Alignment of curricula, pedagogies, assessments, outcomes, and standards in Vietnamese English language teacher education

English Language Teacher Education (ELTE) in Vietnam is rapidly changing to address the requirements of the new socio-economic context. Vietnamese ELTE receives an increasing amount of investment, in terms of finance, resources, and teacher training. However, it may be perceived as a system that has more challenges than opportunities with many concerning issues regarding curriculum, pedagogies, and assessments. Many ELTE graduates are unable to meet Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) standards. Given its predominant role, it is imperative to consider how policy shapes practice. My study provides an understanding of the alignment of ELTE curricula, pedagogies, assessments, outcomes, and standards. I employed a mixed-method approach to examine policy documents, survey data, and interviews conducted with lecturers and instructional leaders from 11 institutions across all parts of Vietnam to explore potential gaps between policy and implementation. My findings indicate that there are points of strong and weak alignment between and among ELTE curricula, pedagogies, assessments, outcomes, and standards. I found a strong alignment (i) between curricula, foundation knowledge, English language knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge standards, and (ii) between curricula and MoET’s dispositional standards. But the alignment of (i) assessment, outcomes, and learning capacity standards, in terms of both content and form, and (ii) curricula with MoET’s research skills, soft-skills, IT skills, and social integration skills standards is weak. My findings also reveal that the participants express concerns regarding curricula, pedagogies, assessments, and outcomes across the curricula I sampled. They suggested that outcome statements did not clarify MoET’s assessment or research skills requirements. Reported outcomes did not meet MoET’s standards. Institutions faced a variety of assessment constrains (for example, poorly equipped test systems, poorly designed assessments, time constraints, and poor assessment weighing). There was imbalance between theory and practice within the ELTE curriculum, which may not provide graduates with sufficient knowledge or skills to teach effectively. The participants believed that they taught well, but they identified challenges of teaching (for example, students’ low entry levels, large classes, poor teaching and learning conditions, limited teaching resources, and limited time along with an overburdened curriculum). I propose recommendations to improve the ELTE system. These include increased professional development, more equitable investments across institutions, a revision of outcomes so that they relate to standards, and improvements for how students and programs are assessed. My further recommendation suggests that teaching conditions need to be improved to meet MoET’s standards and social expectations. Broader implications of my study suggest a need for a better alignment between and among these five key elements. My study findings and implications address multiple educational stakeholders. They are meaningful to ELTE governmental, institutional, and faculty policy makers. I propose a tool for evaluating alignment between curricula, pedagogies, assessments, outcomes, and standards, which may improve tertiary ELT and be helpful for other EFL researchers.