Abstract
Mentoring is a prominent approach used in teacher professional development in the world, especially in the U.S.A, U.K. and other Western countries but is not fully employed in beginning teacher education in Vietnam. Therefore, this study examines the current situation of mentoring at university and investigates beginning English language teachers’ attitudes and feelings toward their mentoring experiences. It is argued that conducting such studies can raise the awareness of mentoring in the process of guiding beginning English language teachers in their new profession. Data for the study was collected by a survey questionnaire which was given to a number of beginning teachers. Descriptive statistical of frequency, mean, standard deviation were applied to examine the data from the survey. The results of the study suggested that although beginning English language teachers in Vietnam valued the role of mentoring in their professional development, it is not fully employed in teacher education for many reasons. Their thoughts about their mentoring can be a blueprint for future implementation of a formal mentoring program.

Key words:- mentoring at university, Likert Scale and a Semantic Differential Scale, mentor and mentee

Introduction

Among different approaches such as mentoring, coaching and supervision, mentoring seems to be very effective in enhancing teachers’ professional development (Carter & Francis, 2001; Johnson, 2002; Portner, 2002; Yost, 2002). Mentoring is a process in which a more skilled or more experienced person, the mentor, nurtures someone less skilled or experienced, the mentee. This may involve a mentor adopting a variety of roles of modeling, teaching, sponsoring, encouraging, counseling, or befriending (Anderson and Shannon, 1988), coaching, supporting, promoting (Lacey,1999), or even supervising and providing situational leadership (Colwell, 1998) to a mentee for the purpose of promoting the latter’s professional and/or personal development (Colwell, 1998; Anderson and Shannon, 1988; Peterson &  Williams, 1998).

  Inexperienced teachers are often regarded as teachers who have less than three years of teaching experience (Troutman, 2002). This group of teachers always struggle for survival in their early career. Additionally, first-year teaching experiences have powerful influences on their practice and attitudes throughout the remainder of their careers. It can be seen that, without help, most first-year teachers often “lose their enthusiasm, ambition, and idealism and start getting lost in the flurry of a challenging beginning” (Saban, 2002, p.33). Therefore, providing some kind of support to them is essential to retain them within the profession and to develop them as potential professionals.

However, the emergence of mentoring as a professional development strategy has not been paid due attention in Vietnam. Moreover, there has been almost no research into the field of mentoring in the context of the Vietnamese educational system. No study exists that examines the presence and benefits of mentoring for beginning English language teachers in Vietnam. Therefore, this study set out to investigate the use of mentoring as a professional growth strategy and the beginning English language teachers’ opinions about their mentoring experience at their workplace.

Benefits of mentoring in beginning teachers’ professional development
Literature reveals that there tends to be a general acceptance that mentoring yields benefits for all involved parties – the organization, mentees and mentors. However, this part only discusses the benefits of mentoring in developing beginning teachers’ professional development.

Through mentoring, mentees have opportunities to learn, grow and move along life’s professional and psychological pathways (Galbraith & Cohen, 1995, Chao, 1997, Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). Studies of mentoring (Galbraith & Cohen, 1995; Kohler et al, 1997; Street 2004), in many settings, especially in schools, colleges and universities have showed that mentoring enhances learning. More specifically, mentoring has a great potential of supporting teacher learning because it occurs in the direct context of teaching and learning and provides real learning environments for teachers to develop (Meyer, 2002).  In a mentoring process, new teachers require the assistance of more experienced colleagues as they enter the teaching profession as a student teacher. Huberman (1993) has characterized the beginning stage of teacher professional development as “a period of survival and discovery”(p.3) during which beginning teachers must face the challenges of their teaching career, such as “emotional and psychological stress”, “the lack of support”, and “conceptual struggles about teaching and learning”(Wang & Odell, 2002, p.514). As a consequence, they may seek help from mentor teachers who provide information and opportunities to help the novice to practice, explore and improve the current situation. In a recent study of new teachers, Maynard (2000) discovered that what the new teachers wanted “above anything else was to be made to feel welcome” (p.21). In effect, beginning teachers are learning to do the job of teaching while experiencing a mentoring relationship. In recent studies (Street, 2004; Forbes, 2004; Woullard & Coats; 2004), researchers have proved that mentoring new teachers assists their teacher learning. More specifically, mentoring programs provide structure and support in helping new teachers to learn, thereby promoting a higher level of teaching skills, and pedagogical knowledge (Saban, 2002; Hargreaves & Fullan, 2000; Forbes, 2004; Evertson & Smithey, 2000; Woullard & Coats, 2004) as well as teaching efficacy (Yost, 2002). In this perspective, mentoring has often functioned as a process of transmission in teacher professional learning (Carter and Francis, 2001).

Miller (2002) argues that using isolated approaches such as coaching, tutoring or training which aim only at improving the trainees’ technical skills or knowledge is not sufficient to promote trainees’ personal and professional growth. For this reason, the importance of establishing mentor-mentee relationships is emphasized in order to understand the mentees’ levels of personal and professional development (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2000; Miller, 2002; Lacey, 1999). The purpose of this is to help the mentor “gain knowledge” or understand the protégé’s ego, moral and conceptual levels so as to design appropriate mentoring models responsive to the mentees’ levels of development (Reiman & Thies-Spinthall, 1998, p.178). This supporting relationship is also helpful to develop mutual respect on both sides (Gaskin, Lumpkin & Tennant, 2003), thus facilitating the process of professional development, especially for beginning teachers.

Mentoring also brings a dramatic improvement in beginning teachers’ self-confidence and job satisfaction. Several studies have investigated the relationship between mentoring, teacher confidence and job satisfaction. Feiman-Nemser (1998) argues that “the promise of mentoring lies not in easing novices’ entry into teaching but in helping them confront difficult problems of practice and the use of their teaching as a site for learning” (p.19).  The learning ability to overcome problems and to reflect upon them develops their confidence and their job satisfaction. In this regard, Douglas (1997) and Walker & Stott (1994) believe that mentoring can increase teachers’ self confidence about their teaching competence. In other studies, it is seen that employees who are more satisfied with their job tend to be more committed to their work (Burke & McKeen, 1997), thus making efforts in developing their profession. In brief, confidence and job satisfaction can serve as a catalyst for the growth within teacher professions.

Although there are still many other benefits of mentoring for mentees, the above-mentioned literature has shown that mentoring in general and mentoring for beginning teachers in particular is a powerful way to foster beginning teachers’ professional development for their positive career-related outcomes. Current research also suggests that mentoring not only supports teacher learning but also serves as important strategies for the professional development of new teachers. Blair-Larsen (1998) also asserts that a mentoring process is considered to be productive when it provides support to new teachers and opportunities for personal and professional reflection and development.

Although there is a large body of literature about the benefits of mentoring, there are also studies which investigate the barriers to mentoring. The next section explores further insights into this aspect.

Barriers to mentoring
Theoretically, mentoring is a very positive model for personal and professional development. However, the practice of mentoring faces barriers and the problems of potential misuse. These concerns have been revealed in Long’s study (1997) in which the researcher has shown a cautious attitude toward mentoring. According to Long, “under various conditions, the mentoring relationship can actually be detrimental to the mentor, mentee or both” (p.115). 

The first barrier is related to the lack of understanding of the mentoring process such as the role of mentoring, the goal of mentoring (Gratch, 1998), and the planning of mentoring process (Holt, 1982; Tellez, 1992). The goal of mentoring is to enhance the mentee’s ego, moral and conceptual development (Reiman & Thies-Spinthall, 1998). But in reality, it is shown that the practice of mentoring is, in many cases, not to enhance mentees’ knowledge but rather to socialize them into the conservative social organization and the norms tied to this organization (Gratch, 1998). The same author also points out that the early stages of mentoring mostly focus on providing information about the system rather than consultation on curriculum and instruction, and also much emphasis is placed on “comfort and harmonious relations along with the norms of schools”; as a consequence, such factors “constrain mentors from posing tough questions about practice” (p. 222). A problem of poor planning is expressed in Johnsrud’s (1991) study in which the researcher has found that mentoring did not met with success due to personal and organizational barriers. This is partly shared by Balassa et al (2003) who also prove that participants in a mentoring program had strong concerns with institutional and organizational problems inherent in the present system of education. Additionally, Wang (2001) also believes that “the reformed-minded teaching practice that the mentors developed does not necessarily guarantee the effective mentoring that supports teacher learning and teaching reform” (p.51). The reason is that both the mentor’s and mentee’s practices are constrained by the mentoring contexts such as the structure of the curriculum and assessment, the organization of teaching and the student population. Because of this, Wang (2001) suggests considering how to restructure school contexts and help mentors learn how to mentor before designing mentoring programs and arranging mentoring relationships.   

The second concern of mentoring practice in educational settings is the potential lack of skills of the mentors themselves. Many researchers (Gratch, 1998; Rowley, 1999; Colwell, 1998) show that most mentors lack formal training in mentoring. Mentorship is a unique role where not everyone who volunteers may be suitable (Daresh & Playko, 1990). Although there is no best approach for training mentors, Holloway (2001) believes that even a nurturing mentor is not enough to effectively help novice teachers unless the mentors have received training on how to support new teachers. In a study, Rowley (1999) argues that mentor teachers who have not participated in a quality training program often display a lack of dedication to the role and responsibilities of mentoring. In addition,  Colwell (1998, p.318) indicates that untrained mentors may become only “poorly trained buddies” unless there is an extensive system of in-service mentor training.  For Gratch (1998, p.224), those “teachers who are good at teaching children may not be qualified to teach teachers”. Such perspectives show that there is a crucial need for an increased training for mentor teachers. Without substantial support for developing mentoring skills, mentor teachers may act more like guides who help novices adapt to the existing school systems, rather than as efficient supporters to assist novices in developing ambitious teaching practice (Wang, 2001).

Furthermore, several studies (Gerstein, 1985; Madison et al, 1993) have identified that a poor relationship between the mentor and mentee can often lead to a breakdown in the mentoring relationships. This can occur because mentoring process involves interpersonal relationships (Madison et al, 1993). Where a mentoring program is forced, the mentoring relationship formed may “lead to kind of contrived collegiality” (Long, 1997, p.122). This relationship is not inherently beneficial because, to some extent, it can undermine trust and openness, which are of great importance to the establishment and the maintenance of a real collaborative culture.

Another barrier is that mentoring requires enormous investment of time, money, effort, and resources (Manson, 1990; Blank & Sindelar, 1992; Saban, 2002). Concerning time, a group of studies (Noe, 1988; Redmond, 1990; Saban, 2002) have shown that it is a critical factor for the effectiveness of mentoring. Ganser (1999) concurs with this, adding that successful mentoring also depends on the resources allocated to it and time made available for mentoring activities.
It is obvious that mentoring is a beneficial process for beginning teachers, but needs further research into how to overcome its barriers. Among many factors leading to its success, mentors play an important role. The next section discusses the functions and characteristics of mentors.

Mentor qualities and expectations
According to Hutto et al, (1991, as cited in Sinclair, 2003, p.79), a mentor is defined as an “experienced, successful and knowledgeable professional who willingly accepts the responsibility of facilitating professional growth and support of a colleague through a mutually beneficial relationship”. It can be clearly seen that mentors should have outstanding knowledge, skills, professional competence in a particular field. It is expected that mentors pass on their accumulated knowledge to the less experienced teachers as well as being available for general discussion. The mentors are required to help mentees develop teaching skills, giving constructive feedback and having more general discussions about teaching with mentees, meaning that they should be highly proficient teachers with a strong base of pedagogical knowledge and successful experience (Blank & Sindelar, 1992; Kay & Hinds, 2002; Evertson & Smithey, 2000).

Mentoring has been defined as a “nurturing process” which occurs in a caring and ongoing relationship between more experienced teachers with those who are less experienced (Peterson & Williams, 1998; Colley, 2003). To achieve effective mentoring, Galbraith & Cohen (1995) and Sinclair (2003) emphasize the importance of interpersonal skills and communication skills. In this respect, several interpersonal skills are identified, including the ability to motivate, listen, influence, counsel, manage time, and to exhibit trustworthiness (Kay and Hinds, 2002; Beyene, et al, 2002). Feiman-Nemser & Parker (1992) also add that mentoring roles and functions should include those of a motivator, teacher, role model, supporter, counselor, advisor, demonstrator, guide, change agent, companion, and coach.

Not every one possesses the personality, professional knowledge, and numerous skills to be a mentor. Fundamentally, they should be personally committed to the mentoring role and believe in the potential of the mentee (Beyene, et al, 2002; Sinclair, 2003).  They should be able to provide information and assistance, model appropriate practice and provide positive, sensitive feedback regarding the mentee’s development and progress. Therefore, a mentor’s ability to adapt to different situations is critical (Sullivan, 1992; Klausmeier, 1994), as are skills in modeling effective teaching strategies and managing time (Klausmeier, 1994), and giving feedback (Beyene, et al, 2002), all of which are  regarded as indispensable in increasing the effectiveness of mentoring.
In conclusion, there is no ideal type of mentor. According to Blank & Sindelar (1992), “mentors appear to be a unique blend of intuitive sensitivity and technical expertise” (p.23). The presence of a mentor alone is not enough; the mentor’s knowledge and skills of how to mentor are also crucial.

The relevance of current research in the literature
Literature has revealed that mentoring has enormous potential to bring about learning, professional growth, and development for teachers, especially beginning teachers. Although there have been barriers, with appropriate understanding of the mentoring process, it has emerged as a potentially effective means of facilitating the entry of beginning teachers into the profession. The literature review of previous studies in the field has provided the background in the field of mentoring research and can be considered as basis for the investigation of mentoring in the context of the four major colleges at Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Located in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, VNU is the largest multidisciplinary higher educational and research centre in Vietnam. It consists of four major colleges, several schools, faculties, and institutes. In response to the call for innovations in education in Vietnam from the Ministry of Education and Training, VNU has proposed several schemes to develop teachers’ professional development, in which mentoring seems to be under-explored.

Additionally, there has not been any research into this issue in the context of Vietnam, leading to the inadequate use of mentoring as a tool for professional development for beginning teachers in Vietnam. Besides, while mentoring has been recommended, research provides little information regarding how beginning teachers experience informal mentoring. In other words, the literature review indicates the need for more research in the area of mentoring for beginning teachers, particularly in the area of mentoring in Vietnam. This study adds to the existing body of literature by investigating the current situation of mentoring for beginning English language teachers at a leading university in Vietnam and examining the beginning EFL teachers’ opinions about their mentoring experiences.

Method
Objectives of the study
The research attempts to answer the following research questions: 
1.  To what extent is mentoring for beginning English language teachers employed at their workplace in Vietnam?
2. What are the benefits of mentoring in terms of their professional development, as perceived by beginning English language teachers?
3. What are the barriers to mentoring, as perceived by beginning English language teachers?
4.  How do the beginning English Language teachers evaluate their mentors?

Participants
The researcher employed a stratified random sampling technique to select the data. This technique was employed because the population of this study is stratified on more than one variable (it includes 4 groups of beginning English teachers from 4 different colleges of VNU). Therefore, a random sample of a proportionate size was selected from each group to ensure its reliability. According to Dornyei (2003), this kind of sampling can “minimize the effects of any extraneous or subjective variables that might affect the outcome of the survey study “(p.73).

The data for this study were obtained from 31 beginning English language teachers at four major colleges which are part of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU). Respondents used for this study met the following criteria: 1) having to be employed as full-time teachers at VNU, 2) having less than 3 years of teaching experience, 3) volunteering to participate in the study. Beginning EL teachers were chosen for the survey because the study attempts to investigate their opinions and feelings about their mentoring experiences. Additionally, every year, VNU recruits a large number of English teachers. Therefore, the number of young and new English Language teachers is larger than that of other subjects.

The survey was mailed to 40 EFL beginning teachers. Accompanying the survey was a consent form for the participants, a letter outlining the purpose of the survey, the intent of using their response in the data collection, a statement of anonymity and confidentiality and an explanation of related terms. After the first mailing, 20 questionnaires were returned. After the second mailing, 20 questionnaires were returned. Nine incomplete responses were deleted. Therefore, 31 questionnaires were used for data analysis.

Respondents in the study included 29 females (93 %) and 2 males (approximately 7 %). Among these respondents, 10 teachers from the College of Foreign Languages (VNU) accounted for 32 % of the total. Approximate 23% and 26% were from the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Social Sciences and Humanities (VNU) respectively. Six teachers (19%) were from the College of Technology (VNU).

Instruments

A survey in the form of a questionnaire was developed on the literature reviewed and associated with the related objectives. The researcher used a Likert Scale and a Semantic Differential Scale to develop the questionnaire. According to Dornyei (2003), it is the most popular technique in requiring the respondents to make an evaluation judgment of the target by means of a scale. The design of this questionnaire considered such matters as avoiding “leading” questions, as suggested by Oppenheim (1992) and Dornyei (2003), in order to increase the reliability of the data. The survey solicited attitudes towards various aspects of mentoring: benefits, barriers, types, mentoring activities, mentors, which attempted to answer four research questions.

Forty five questions were developed based on an extensive review of the pertinent literature. This survey has identified major issues concerning the research questions. Question 1 and 2 identified the role of mentoring in beginning teachers’ professional development. Question 22-28 helped to recognize the type of mentoring occurring in Vietnam. Question 29-35 measured the frequency of mentoring activities they had experienced. These questions required respondents to use the following semantic differential scale: 1= always, 2= frequently, 3=sometimes, 4=infrequently, 5=never. These groups of questions helped answer research question 1. Questions 3-21 gathered information regarding the benefits as well as the barriers, which answers the research question 2 and 3. These questions required respondents to use the following Likert scale: 1= Strongly agree, 2= Agree, 3=Slightly agree, 4= Disagree, 5= Strongly disagree. Question 36-45 investigated their opinions about their mentor, which is the focus of research question 4. These questions asked respondents to use the following Likert Scale: 1=very good, 2=good, 3=satisfactory, 4=poor, 5= very poor. This survey instrument provided the opportunity for quantitative feedback from the respondents. All of these questions are found in table 1 to 5.  

Results
Activities for beginning teachers’ professional development (PD) and the role of mentoring in their professional development
It can be seen from chart 1 below, among many mentioned professional development activities asked such as coaching, supervision, self-study, mentoring, training, formal degree program, workshops, and others (Question 1), self-study and formal degree program rank the first. Interestingly, all respondents said that they had used these activities, but three important strategies (coaching, supervision, and mentoring) for professional development were under-explored regardless of their perceived roles in their professional development. It is noted that apart from coaching and supervision, mentoring seems to be a missing link in their professional development as only 19 % teachers employed this as a professional development activity. The data in the next section also confirms that this type of mentoring is informally self-initiated.

Although mentoring is not largely used by the teachers, they still value its importance in their professional development. When asked about its role (Question 2), most of the respondents said that it was important, even very important in their professional development.

Benefits of mentoring in their professional development

Items in Table 1 reported beginning English language teachers’ (BELTs) responses regarding their opinions about the benefits of mentoring. All subjects were asked to respond to the questions on a Likert Scale: 1= strongly agree, 2= agree, 3=slight agree, 4= disagree, 5= strongly disagree. The scores for each item were ranked by mean and standard deviation to indicate how BELTs felt about it.

Respondents indicated that overall they agreed that mentoring helped them feel more confident about their professional competence and acquire more teaching knowledge and teaching skills. In addition, they also believed that teacher learning and teaching improvements were benefits of their mentoring experiences. They slightly agreed that it had positive influences on their teaching efficacy, their job satisfaction and their career- long profession. Responses to these issues yielded results that ranged from agree to slightly agree with standard deviation of approximately 0.5. Most respondents also slightly agreed that mentoring established a foundation for their career-long profession. However, there is a variation in this answer as its standard deviation is 0.68. In general, the perceived benefits of mentoring support the major findings in the literature. This can create good conditions to continue the development of the mentoring relationship in their workplace for their positive attitudes toward its role in their professional development.

Table 1. Opinions towards the benefits of mentoring

Barriers to mentoring

Items listed in Table 2 reported BELTs’ responses toward the barriers to their mentoring process. All subjects were asked to respond to questions regarding this issue on a Likert scale: 1= strongly agree, 2= agree, 3=slight agree, 4= disagree, 5= strongly disagree. The scores for each item were ranked by mean to indicate level of agreement. From the table, it can be seen that BELTs agreed that lack of awareness of the role of mentoring, understanding about the mentoring process, and access to mentors represented barriers to their mentoring process. Additionally, there was agreement particularly in the area of resources associated with mentoring, limited time for mentoring and unsuccessful matching of mentor and mentee. They only slightly agreed that their mentoring process was hindered by the lack of administrative support. However, this needs further investigation because its standard deviation is high (0.8), which means there is a fluctuation in their answers. Also, responses to barriers such as mentor’s poor skills, poor planning and insufficient funding yielded scores that ranged from “slightly agree” to “agree”. In general, most of the respondents slightly agreed or agreed that mentoring in their workplace still faces many barriers. These findings are of practical value in taking into consideration these factors in an attempt to extend mentorship for beginning EFL teachers.

Table 2. Opinions towards the barriers to mentoring

Mentoring types

The items in Table 3 investigated the types of mentoring the respondents experienced. The respondents agreed or even strongly agreed that they themselves initiated their mentoring relationship and this relationship seemed to be supported by the organization. Additionally, they indicated that there was no procedure to match mentees with mentors and they did not attend a defined mentoring program at their college. This was consistent with the next two items which indicated that respondents disagreed that they experienced a mentoring program with specific tasks for short periods and clear purposes. These results have showed that they experienced informal mentoring. 

Table 3 - Opinions towards their mentoring types

Mentoring activities

The items listed in Table 4 examined the frequency of the mentoring activities they had experienced. Overall, most of the respondents reported that they never experienced mentor modeling and class observation. Some of them experienced these activities infrequently. Additionally, most of the respondents also indicated that they infrequently shared their experience with the mentors and counseled them. Mean score for guidance and training from mentors were respectively 3.1 (sd 0.61) and 3.3 (sd 0.54), which showed that they sometimes employed these mentoring activities. The sole activity with higher frequency was asking for mentor’s advice. In general, asking for a mentor’s advice was the most frequent mentoring activity while other activities seemed not to occur frequently. This seems to verify that a need exists for formalizing more mentoring activities to develop beginning EFL teacher’s professionalism.

 Table 4 - Mentoring activities

Evaluation on mentors

The items listed in Table 5 reported respondents’ evaluation on their mentor. All subjects were asked to respond to questions regarding their evaluation on several qualities of their mentor on a Likert scale ranging from 1- 5 (1= very good, 2= good, 3= satisfactory, 4= poor, 5= very poor). The score for each item was ranked by mean to indicate the level of their evaluation.
Overall, most of the respondents indicated that their mentor’s ability to manage time and give feedback was poor. Additionally, they also reported that they had poor accessibility to the mentor. Although the mean of items 36 and 37 was almost the same, its range was different. It can be inferred that most of the respondents were satisfied with their mentor’s ability to model effective teaching strategies. However, their opinions about their mentor’s ability to work in a collaborative manner ranged from “satisfactory” to “poor”. Responses to the mentor’s ability to adapt to different situations were also ranged from “satisfactory” to “good”. There was not much agreement in this item. They also felt satisfied with their mentor’s verbal communication. Additionally, they also thought that their mentor’s professional competence, interpersonal skills, and teaching experience were good.

Table 5 - Opinions towards the mentors

Discussion

Overall, the research revealed that there is a lack of awareness about mentoring, especially formal mentoring at tertiary level in Vietnam. The result of the present study showed that beginning English language teachers at their workplace experienced only informal mentoring. This type of informal mentoring was identified in their opinions about their mentoring experiences, types of mentoring activities, and their evaluation of their mentor. The study confirmed findings from other research in relation to the benefits of mentoring in teacher professional development. Although these benefits were perceived by only BELTs in Vietnam, it supports the use of mentoring as a strategy to help beginning teachers in their early career. In addition, they also identified barriers to their mentoring process such as lack of awareness of the role of mentoring, understanding about the mentoring process, mentors, time, resources, poor mentoring skills, planning and matching between mentors and mentees.

Although the administration supported their mentoring, it failed to go beyond informal support. These findings are of practical importance for future implementation of a mentoring program at tertiary level in Vietnam. Additionally, data analysis from the survey indicated that the current beginning English language teachers at four colleges of Vietnam National University, Hanoi  did not feel satisfied with their mentor’s mentoring skills in such areas as giving feedback, working in a collaborative manner, modeling, effective teaching strategies, managing time for mentoring. The BELTs found it hard to access their mentor. However, they have a high regard for their mentor’s professional competence, teaching skills, teaching experience, and interpersonal skills. These findings are also of practical value in examining the current situation for the future design and implementation of a mentoring program for beginning English language teachers.

Recommendations

The findings suggest that mentorship is a potentially important component of an initial teacher’s professional development for its tremendous benefits; however, mentoring is not formally advocated as a tool for professional development for beginning English language teachers. It occurred spontaneously to fill a need that existed. Therefore, it is highly recommended that a mentoring program be implemented at this research site to assist, facilitate, and ease the transition of the beginning teachers in to their potential profession. This is essential in providing beginning EFL teachers with opportunities to learn ‘how to learn’ through the process of trial and error, feedback and reflection. As a result, this approach is effective in helping improve beginning teachers’ professional development.

Additionally, mentoring can show its greater effectiveness under two conditions: firstly, if the university envisages the creation of learning workplace-based culture in which its “members have learned conscious, communal processes for continually generating, retaining and leveraging individual and collective learning to improve the performance of the organizational system in ways important to all stakeholders” (Teare & Dealtry, 1998, p.47); and secondly, if that new culture can monitor and improve performance (Drew & Smith, 1995). A learning culture can encourage all the teachers, especially beginning teachers to continue developing their professional skills and participate actively in teacher collaboration.  It can be sure that mentoring will be welcome in this environment.

Furthermore, in order to promote both formal and informal mentorship, it is necessary to take all the aforementioned barriers into consideration. More specifically, the desired mentoring programs should have a clear communication of the program’s objectives, clarification of roles such as training mentors, a setting of expectations, suggesting activities, creating procedures to match mentor with mentee, and the appropriate allocation of resources, and planning.
Through the beginning English language teachers’ evaluation of their mentors, the study emphasizes the importance of training prospective mentors of new teachers. The study provides further insight into the issue of the identification and selection of mentors for beginning teachers. The following criteria are recommended for choosing a mentor for beginning English language teachers. Firstly, they need to possess abilities to model effective teaching strategies, to work in a collaborative manner and to manage time effectively.

These abilities are of great importance because the main job of a mentor is to provide expertise and ongoing support and professional development opportunities to enhance skills and effectiveness of beginning English language teachers (Brooks, 1999). Additionally, they need to have a good knowledge of teaching and have more than three years of successful teaching experiences. This parameter is necessary to help the beginning teachers acquire more teaching knowledge. More importantly, they should display good professional competence and effective verbal communication, which enable them to share their expertise with their mentees and to communicate effectively. Furthermore, interpersonal skills are also significant in effective mentorship because mentoring is a nurturing process of guidance and the mentor’s role is non-evaluative and non-judgmental. With good interpersonal skills, mentors can build a better relationship with their mentees.

However, all of these qualities alone are not enough to develop effective mentorship; the mentor’s knowledge and skill of how to mentor are also crucial. In other words, they need adequate training in the role of mentorship. In a recent study, Evertson & Smithey (2000) found that “protégés of trained mentors showed increased evidence of developing and sustaining more workable classroom routines, managed instruction more smoothly, and gained student cooperation in academic tasks more effectively” (p.301). Similarly, according to Evertson & Smithey (2000) and Carter and Francis (2001), the training of mentors in more useful mentoring skills and the preparation of mentors for their task enables them to be more successful in their role. Consequently, it is recommended that mentoring programs should place more emphasis on the training of mentors. This should involve formal training on the goals and objectives of mentoring; what a teacher mentor is supposed to do; which role they play, and what skills they need to demonstrate. Zachary (2000) believes that not only do mentors need training prior to working with their mentees, but also the opportunities to discuss ideas, problems, and solutions with other mentors while continuing to support their mentees.

Conclusions
Even though this research has showed several limitations associated with a relatively small number of respondents (N=31) from a small number of single organizations, thus limiting the scope of the study, it draws an overview picture of this issue at four colleges of Vietnam National University in Vietnam. Data from this research demonstrated that mentoring for beginning English language teachers at Vietnam National University was missing in initial teacher education and was just employed informally. In this respect, it outlines the need to develop a formal mentoring program for beginning EFL teachers. In the study itself, findings confirmed those from other research in relation to the benefits of mentoring in teacher professional development. In addition, barriers to their mentoring at the research site were also identified by beginning EFL teachers, which is of practical importance for future implementation of a mentoring program. Regarding the evaluation of their mentors, it is noted that they did not feel satisfied with their mentoring skills and their mentor’s availability. This could be explained by the fact that their mentoring relationships were informally initiated. Thus, their mentors were not trained in mentoring. From what has been found about the current situation, the above mentioned recommendations have been put forward to support the call for a formal mentoring program for beginning EFL teachers, as well as to create conditions which can facilitate its success.

Although this study’s findings demonstrated that mentoring at VNU requires further improvement and attention, the researcher suggests a further longitudinal study be conducted on beginning teacher mentoring experiences. Furthermore, an additional means of analysis of the situation through observation and the compilation of personal records could be conducted. Future studies should analyze a larger sample of beginning English language teachers, thus extending the scope of the context and strengthening the validity of its findings.

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