DSpace at VNU: The impacts of globalisation on EFL teacher education through English as a medium of instruction: An example from Vietnam

DSpace at VNU: The impacts of globalisation on EFL teacher education through English as a medium of instruction: An exam...

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Current Issues in Language Planning

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c Faculty of Education and Social Work , University of Sydney ,Darlington , NSW 2006 , Australia

Published online: 02 May 2013

To cite this article: Thi Kim Anh Dang , Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen & Truc Thi Thanh Le (2013)

The impacts of globalisation on EFL teacher education through English as a medium of

instruction: an example from Vietnam, Current Issues in Language Planning, 14:1, 52-72, DOI:10.1080/14664208.2013.780321

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The impacts of globalisation on EFL teacher education through

English as a medium of instruction: an example from Vietnam

Dang Thi Kim Anha,b*, Hoa Thi Mai Nguyencand Truc Thi Thanh Lea

a

Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC 3053,

Australia;bFaculty of English Language Teacher Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam;cFaculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW 2006, Australia

(Received 9 November 2012; final version received 25 February 2013)

Recent research on language planning and policy highlights the effects of globalisation

in spreading the English language as a medium of instruction (EMI) in non-native English speaking (NNES) countries This trend has encouraged many universities in NNES countries to offer EMI education programmes with the objective of developing national human capital with pro ficiency in English One such country is Vietnam, where the Ministry of Education and Training prepared a 2008 –2020 action plan to revitalise English language education, involving the improvement of the quality of language teacher education (TE) As part of the current reforms, the Ministry has urged teacher training colleges and universities to develop high quality English as a foreign language (EFL) TE programmes In response, a fast-track EFL TE programme with EMI has been introduced at a Vietnamese university Focusing on this TE programme, this paper illustrates how contemporary globalisation encourages using EMI in TE in NNES countries Vygotskian socio-cultural theory and Marginson and Rhoades ’s [Beyond national states, markets, and systems of higher education: A glonacal agency heuristic Higher Education, 43(3), 281 –309] glonacal heuristic are used to analyse the effects of globalisation in this EMI teaching context Based on individual interviews of a cohort of 20 Vietnamese pre-service teachers, classroom observations and artefacts, such as instructional materials and policy documents, the paper shows that global influences on teaching practices were mediated by a number

of different elements, including social and community pressure, trends to the internationalisation of education, and the availability of teaching resources.

Keywords: English as a medium of instruction; globalisation; language policy; teacher education; Vietnam; Vygotskian socio-cultural theory

Context of the study

Beginning in 1986 with the Doi Moi (renovation) changes in state policy, Vietnam began toopen up its economy to the world and develop relationships particularly with the West.Since 1989, Vietnam has been one of the world’s fastest growing economies (Postiglione,2011), with annual growth of 7–8% (OECD, 2010) By the 1990s, there was a growingrealisation that competence in foreign languages was a key factor in facilitating the DoiMoi approach and in enhancing Vietnam’s competitive position in the international econ-omic and political arena In particular, the teaching and learning of English, increasinglyseen as a‘world language’ (Brutt-Griffler, 2002), became more popular and widespread

*Corresponding author Email: dangthikimanh@gmail.com

Vol 14, No 1, 52 –72, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2013.780321

in Vietnam Over time, English language teaching and learning has gained in status, hashad much impact on language planning and policy, and has spread in terms of domains

of use As English becomes increasingly prominent, the need for language proficiency tinues to grow as do the number of programmes with English as a medium of instruction(EMI)

con-The need to enhance English language proficiency has been expressed in a succession

of language policy and planning developments In 1996, English was introduced as an tive subject, starting from Grade 3 (for children approximately eight years of age) with two40-minute periods per week in provinces with adequate resources to do so The policyreceived support throughout the country from primary schools and parents Consequently,

elec-in 2010–2011, a pilot primary school programme in English as a compulsory subject wasimplemented, with four 40-minute periods per week, starting from Grade 3 (Nguyen, 2011).According to Nguyen (2005), 99.1% of all the junior secondary schools across the countryoffer English language studies Nguyen and Nguyen also observe, ‘English languagecentres have mushroomed all over the country…’ (2007, p 163) and a small number ofprivate schools have started offering EMI-based courses In September 2008 the Vietna-mese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued the‘National Foreign Language

2020 Project’ which emphasised English language education as a key factor in nationaldevelopment As part of this initiative, MOET aimed to ensure that all young peopleleaving secondary school by 2020 have a good command of English This language plan-ning goal has led to a number of changes in English language education, including the intro-duction of English at an earlier stage, increasing the teaching time devoted to English,changing current textbooks, offering EMI programmes, and training and retrainingEnglish language teachers throughout the country

One component of this policy addresses the need to improve the quality of Englishlanguage teacher education (TE) programmes The quality and quantity of qualifiedEnglish teachers are widely seen as problematic in Vietnam as in other Asian countries(Kirkpatrick, 2011; Nguyen, 2011) Not many English teachers are confident in usingEMI It had been hoped that dramatic changes in English language education wouldoccur when textbooks were overhauled early in 2000 (Le, 2007), followed by upgradingworkshops for secondary teachers However:

classroom teaching remains grammar-focused, textbook-bound, and teacher-centred on account of teachers ’ inadequacy of required proficiency in English and teaching skills as well as of the traditional image of the teacher as a type of omniscient authority figure and a holder of all knowledge (Le, 2007, p 174)

The majority of teachers lack competence in using English in the classroom (Le & Do,2012; Nguyen, 2011) Yet teachers are the key agents involved in the teaching and learningprocess Curricular changes need to be supported by appropriate socialisation and qualityEnglish teacher education including, as part of a larger set of strategies and programmes,the building of EMI teaching proficiency

The need for reform in English teaching in Vietnam foregrounds the role of pre-serviceEnglish as a foreign language (EFL) TE and embodies both a higher standard of EFL, and amore practical orientation to classroom teaching grounded in students’ lived experiences.Teacher training colleges and universities have been urged to‘focus particularly on renovat-ing TE programmes in an approach that is modern, closely related to the real life context atschools, less academic and more practical’ (MOET, 2006, p 16) Several EFL TE pro-grammes have been specifically designed to encourage pre-service teachers (PSTs) to

study content courses in English In these programmes, PSTs can access globalisedresources and are prepared for participation in global professional communities.

Traditionally, EFL TE courses in Vietnam aimed to improve PSTs’ English languagecompetence, study general education subjects, and develop professional teaching skills(Le, 2002) However, because of PSTs’ generally low entry level of English proficiency,

a typical TE programme mainly focused on improving their English (Le, 2002) AdoptingEMI thus became challenging, especially when students and, in many cases, lecturers hadlimited English language skills (Le, 2012) In many TE institutions, Vietnamese continues

to be MOI for the core courses, such as EFL teaching methodology, phonetics, semantics,and even English, using a grammar-translation approach The TE programme reported inthis paper is special and innovative in that with its lecturers mainly trained overseas andhigh achieving English students, all the core courses are delivered in English Its focusgoes beyond improving PSTs’ English knowledge and skills This fast-track EFL TE pro-gramme was developed at a leading university in Vietnam, henceforth the‘Vietnamese Uni-versity’ Established in 2001, it set out to improve the language proficiency and teachingmethodology of prospective teachers using an EMI approach

The TE programme at the Vietnamese University exemplifies the trend to the use of EMI

in non-native English speaking (NNES) contexts (Evans & Morrison, 2011; Hayati &Mashhadi, 2010; Qi, 2009) An increasing number of English-medium courses are offered

in higher education in Europe (Airey, 2011; Coleman, 2006), especially since the BolognaDeclaration in 1999 The introduction or re-introduction of EMI is also reported in Asiancountries including Korea (Byun et al., 2011), Bangladesh (Hamid, Jahan, & Islam,2013), Taiwan (Hsieh, 2010), and China (Hu & Alsagoff, 2010) Yet the quantitative expan-sion of EMI is only part of the picture The role of globalisation in contemporary EMI, andthe resulting changes in curriculum, pedagogy and teachers’ practices, have received lessresearch attention This paper investigates those factors, through a case study of onecohort of 20 Vietnamese PSTs in the previously-mentioned fast-track TE programme.Study data were collected during the teachers’ professional experience in their final year

of study Specifically, the research aimed to examine how the teaching practices of the PSTs inthis EMI TE context were shaped; and in particular, what socio-cultural–historical-economicfactors influenced that process, with special attention focused on global factors

Language policy and EMI

Medium of instruction– EMI in particular – has become a central aspect of language ning in NNES contexts This phenomenon is not simply a function of macro-level planningdecisions per se At the macro level, language planning is increasingly affected by globa-lisation (Baldauf, 2012), i.e tendencies to worldwide convergence and integration (Held,McLew, Goldblatt, & Perraton, 1999), including the spread of English as a global language

plan-At the local level, EMI practices are influenced by a number of factors other than officialpolicy and planning, including the direct impact of global communications

At the macro level languages of instruction are determined by national economic and itical agendas Many NNES countries now mandate EMI programmes (Evans & Morrison,2011; Hayati & Mashhadi, 2010; Qi, 2009) not only in higher education but also, increasingly,

pol-at pre-tertiary levels (Baldauf, 2012; Baldauf & Nguyen, 2012; Tsui & Tollefson, 2004).Spolsky (2004) observes that ‘English as a global language is now a factor that needs to

be taken into account in its language policy by any nation state’ (p 9); though as Ferguson(2006) argues, nations may lack the capacity to deal with the spread of English But what

is driving English as a global language in education? Many nations see capacity in English

as necessary for national development and economic competitiveness in an increasingly balised world (Baldauf & Nguyen, 2012; Chua, 2010; Ferguson, 2006; Hamid, 2010; Hsieh,2010) The internationalisation of higher education also promotes EMI (Healey, 2008) Theinternationalisation of education is associated with international standards systems (King,2011) and widespread policy borrowing (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010) that regulate the activities

glo-of educational institutions Often programmes glo-of study are glo-offered in English to attract national students (Ali, in press; Baldauf, 2012); for example among leading East Asian uni-versities (Byun, et al., 2011; The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, 2007).Further, the availability of teaching and learning resources in English and lack of equivalentresources in vernacular languages encourages English use in several Asian and Africancountries (Gill, 2004; Gonzalez, 2003; Shamim, 2008) Global ranking in higher educationagain favours the use of English (Marginson & van der Wende, 2007) as the workinglanguage of universities worldwide, especially in science (Hazelkorn, 2009)

inter-At the micro level, EMI implementation is not an automatic translation of top-downlanguage policy Factors such as personnel and resources influence EMI practices (Airey,2011) Teachers play an important role in realising the goals set by language policy-makers(Kaplan & Baldauf, 2003; Menken & Garcia, 2010; Ramanathan & Morgan, 2007) Increas-ingly researchers recognise that the issue of agency (the active agendas of actors themselves)

is centrally important to EMI implementation (Baldauf, 2012; Ramanathan & Morgan, 2007;Zhao & Baldauf, 2012) Ramanathan and Morgan (2007) call for more active involvement bypractitioners, such as teachers, researchers and administrators, in policy making Liddicoatand Baldauf (2008) advocate some language planning activities at local level as governmentsmay not always be suitable as ‘micro language planners’ Drawing on relevant studies,Baldauf (2012) further argues that individual agency, including those of teachers and learners,

‘may compromise the impact of a national language policy’ (p 240)

Ramanathan and Morgan (2007) note that as well as being influenced by the discourses

on language learning dominant in their teacher preparation programmes, teachers areaffected by a range of life experiences and media exposure The issue of whether and howglobal forces affect EMI practices at the micro-level, including how these global forces inter-act with other factors including individual agency, is under-researched Ramanathan andMorgan (2007) argue that a deeper understanding of this conglomerate of elements, operat-ing at the local level, may facilitate relevant and creative innovations in EMI policy and prac-tices The study attempts to address this gap in the research, taking into consideration thesocio-cultural nature of EMI policy and planning and its underlying macro-micro relation-ships It draws on Vygotsky’s (1978, 1981a, 1981b) socio-cultural theory as an analytical fra-mework for understanding PSTs’ practices in context, and Marginson and Rhoades’s (2002)glonacal heuristic as an analytical tool for identifying elements of globalisation in the data

Socio-cultural theory of development

At the core of Vygotskian theory is a dialectic relationship between the subject and society(Dang & Marginson, 2012) In conceptualising this dialectic, Vygotsky (1978, 1981a,1981b) created two key concepts for investigating mental and cultural development:mediation by artefacts, and the genetic method

we do not act directly on the environment Instead we use labour and tools to change theenvironment, including the conditions under which we live Through this process wechange ourselves Mediation by artefacts ‘breaks down the Cartesian walls that isolatethe individual mind from the culture and the society’ (Engeström, 1999, p 29).

Physical and psychological tools are artefacts created by human culture(s) over time andmade available to succeeding generations, who modify these artefacts and in turn pass them

on A tool embodies a history of development within itself Language is considered a logical tool (Vygotsky, 1981a) In the present study the English language is one of the med-iating pedagogical tools used by PSTs (Grossman, Smagorinsky, & Valencia, 1999) in theclassroom In the socio-cultural perspective, the process whereby‘a person adopts the ped-agogical tools available for use in particular social environments’, and ‘internalizes ways ofthinking endemic to specific cultural practices’, is known as ‘appropriation’ (Grossman et al.,

psycho-1999, p 15) Appropriation of pedagogical tools involves localisation, adaptations, andmodifications (Newell & Connors, 2011) An investigation of EMI as a pedagogical tool

in the TE programme, and of its appropriation by the PSTs later during their professionalexperience, illuminates factors shaping their teaching practices However, the use of EMIcannot be understood outside the broader socio-cultural–historical context in whichEnglish was used In this respect, Vygotsky’s (1981b) genetic method can provide the necess-ary contextual framework for understanding the development of EMI teaching practices

Genetic method

Given that cultural artefacts are passed down from generation to generation, Vygotskyreasoned that the only adequate approach to the study of higher mental abilities was histori-cal (Lantolf, 2000).‘Everyday human behaviour can be understood only by disclosing thepresence of four general fundamental genetic stages through which behavioural develop-ment passes’ (Vygotsky, 1981b, p 156) Vygotsky’s ‘genetic method’ (1981b) incorporatesfour genetic domains for the study of higher mental functions: the phylogenetic domain(humans undergoing natural evolution), the cultural–historical domain (the social settings

of human activity), the ontogenetic domain (the individual lifespan), and the microgeneticdomain (immediate events) The genetic method is a means for genotypic, or explanatory,research (Lantolf & Appel, 1994) that introduces a‘historical point of view into the inves-tigation of behavior’ (Vygotsky, 1981a, p 141)

In using Vygotsky’s genetic method, the present study of PSTs’ teaching practices in theEMI TE context understands their use of English in their professional experience, i.e theiractivity at the microgenetic level, on the basis of their historic antecedents These historic ante-cedents first include the participants’ ontogenesis, i.e their individual histories, backgrounds andexperiences, in relation to English, including their prior use of English in the fast-track TE pro-gramme Second, the genetic method situates EMI practices in the social, cultural and historicalcontext, i.e cultural-historic domain, from which the PSTs’ microgenetic activity (the currentexperience) emerged In contrast with the time when Vygotsky developed his theory, educationalcontexts worldwide and in Vietnam have been transformed by unprecedented global flows andrelations in real time (Dang & Marginson, 2012) Globalisation scholarship is thus essential inconceptualising the broader context in which the PSTs’ teaching practices were situated

Globalisation and the glonacal heuristic

Globalisation,‘the widening, deepening and speeding up of world wide interconnectedness

in all aspects of contemporary social life’ (Held et al., 1999, p 2), is driven by increasing

cross-border flows of people (ethnoscapes), communications and knowledge capes), ideas (ideoscapes), technologies (technoscapes), government policies, money( financescapes) (Appadurai, 1996), and policies (policyscapes) (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010).Global flows of knowledge, cross-border mobility of students and educators, the inter-national standards systems (King, 2011), global comparisons, bench-marking andranking, and the internationalisation of institutions (Marginson & van der Wende, 2009)all affect educational activities in particular national settings.

(medias-Globalisation has triggered new theoretical and methodological approaches to educationalresearch Marginson and Rhoades (2002) argue that rather than being constrained to local ornational boundaries, education is increasingly shaped simultaneously in global, national andlocal dimensions of action They propose a glonacal heuristic for comparative research in edu-cation that accounts for the multi-facetted impact of globalisation in all dimensions Rizvi andLingard (2010) call for a‘historical orientation to [educational] policy analysis’ (p 69, italics

in original) in globalised contexts These theoretical developments suggest the potential ofVygotsky’s (1981a, 1981b) genetic method in globalisation research Dang (2012) argues that:

The genetic method has explanatory power by focusing on the historical dimensions and ing links between different domains of development The glonacal agency heuristic provides an analytical tool to identify different layers, local, national and global, that intertwine the genetic domains (p 144)

creat-Further discussion of this integrated framework is elaborated in Dang and Marginson(2012) and Dang (2012), who also modify Vygotsky’s (1981a, 1981b) genetic method

by including political and economic dimensions in the cultural–historical domain In thepresent study, integrating the glonacal heuristic with a modified Vygotskian geneticmethod enables research to trace global elements in the different genetic domains associatedwith EMI teaching practices in the case study TE programme

The study

This section outlines the participants and the setting of the research, and explains the cesses of data collection and data analysis

pro-Participants and settings

The present study constitutes part of a larger research project conducted by thefirst author,concerning the professional learning of the cohort of 20 PSTs in Vietnam (Dang, 2012,2013; Dang & Marginson, 2012) The present study focuses specifically on the impact ofglobalisation on the PSTs’ appropriation of EMI The research took place during their15-week professional experience from late August to early December 2009 The PSTswere all female and selected as high achieving English students in the previously mentionedBEd (TEFL) TE programme that used EMI Table 1 provides their summary profiles Par-ticipation in the research was voluntary All names used are pseudonyms

To qualify for this programme, the PSTs passed a placement test comprising reading,grammar and IQ, and underwent an interview in English Every year around 400 studentsenrolled in the BEd but only 20–25 students qualify for the fast-track TE programme, afour-year course designed and delivered in English by well-qualified lecturers

In theirfinal year, during professional experience, the PSTs were organised in pairs toteach English and academic skills in English tofirst- and second-year mainstream students,

under the supervision of a university lecturer Each pair taught four lessons, followed by adebriefing session involving the cohort and the supervising teacher.

Data collection and analysis

Data collection incorporated three of the four Vygotskian genetic domains: microgenetic,ontogenetic, and cultural–historical-economic-political Following Cross’s (2006, 2010)

Table 1 Participants ’ profiles.

Years of English language learning

Places of English learning (pre-tertiary) English-related work experience

Hanoi and foreign language centre

PET and class teacher

students in Hanoi

PET and class teacher

Council Taught IELTS and English to Economics students

newspaper

Assistant teacher for ILA English language centre

School for gifted students in Hanoi

students in Hanoi and foreign language centre

English tutor for first year B.Ed students in English Teacher Development Club, and class teacher

school in Hanoi

PET Volunteer in international events

students in Hanoi

PET

students in English Teacher Development Club, and PET

design and consistent with the scope of this study, the phylogenetic domain– that of thenatural-biological evolution of humans in ecological context– was not included.

The microgenetic data of the study are accounts of the PSTs’ teaching practices, derivedfrom observation of their classrooms, and of the instructional artefacts they used, sup-plemented by insights derived from post-teaching-round interviews with the PSTs.The ontogenetic data refer to biographical factors, to the personal backgrounds andexperiences of each PST, including their experiences in thefirst three years of the TE pro-gramme These factors affected their microgenetic activity in observable instances (Cross,2006) The ontogenetic data were generated during individual interviews in which the PSTsrecalled their personal histories

The microgenetic and ontogenetic data sources included: (1) 100 individual tured interviews (20 PSTs each interviewed five times, once prior to their professionalexperience and once after each lesson taught); (2) observations of forty 60-minutelessons taught by the 10 pairs of PSTs; and, (3) other relevant artefacts such as instructionalmaterials Interviews were conducted in Vietnamese, the PSTs’ mother tongue, recorded,and transcribed verbatim

semi-struc-To help explain teacher practice at the microgenetic and ontogenetic levels, the firstauthor collected cultural–historical data, including political and economic elements.These data comprise: (a) policy documents relating to the special TE programme, and tothe Vietnamese university in general; and (b) relevant data on telecommunications, internetusage, and political and economic aspects of Vietnam

Data were categorised into the three domains of cultural–historical, ontogenetic, andmicrogenetic analysis Each data set was analysed according to emergent themes and pat-terns (Miles & Huberman, 1994) relating to globalisation Microgenetic data were codedand analysed on the thematic basis of aspects of the use of English in class Data in the onto-genetic and cultural–historical domains were analysed to identify global elements thatappeared to connect to globally inflected data and themes emerging at the microgeneticlevel

Findings

This section discusses findings from the three genetic domains of cultural–historical,ontogenetic, and microgenetic, and the links between the domains, to help explain PSTs’teaching practices at the microgenetic level Global elements were identified across thegenetic domains

Cultural–historical analysis

The research uncovered traces of global elements in the local and national dimensions ofactivity (Marginson & Rhoades, 2002) with potential effects on the PSTs’ teachingpractices

Locally, there were global elements in both the special TE programme in which thePSTs were enrolled and in their university’s orientation The PSTs had regular access tocomputers and LCD projectors, not commonly found in Vietnamese classrooms Thisallowed the lecturers to use internet-generated materials from elsewhere, facilitating theglobalflow of knowledge, ideas and communications (Appadurai, 1996) The effect wasenhanced by the autonomous agency of lecturers in the TE programme who were free todevelop syllabi and update teaching materials by drawing from global sources Most

lecturers in the programme were Western trained, for example in Australia, New Zealandand the USA, and brought external ideas to the programme.

The TE programme promoted both EMI and the use of ICT resources, corresponding totrends in many universities around the world (Hazelkorn, 2009; Healey, 2008) A report onthe TE programme highlights EMI as part of course design and implementation:

Language that is meaningful to students promotes learning Bearing that in mind, we designed our program in a way that the students could use the target language in real-life and meaningful communication In the research projects, they had the chance to interact with native speakers of English to collect data, read journal articles and books in English to write literature reviews, and practice academic writing skills to develop their research reports (Dang & Ho, 2007, p 5)

Analysis of interview data and documents confirmed that the PSTs were required tocomplete assignments and give presentations in English using ICTs One assignment inthe TE programme mentioned by many PSTs was ‘facilitation’ This required the PSTs

to search for material, design a learning task, and present it in English to their peers.Tam and Binh recalled their experiences with this assignment:

So far in the TE program, we used only English for our ‘facilitation’ assignment in class, so we are just used to it [using EMI] (Tam)

We always use internet materials for speaking and listening classes … When we did tation ’ we would choose material on the internet and then design tasks for it … The university

‘facili-IT course only taught us MS Word and Excel But since the first year, we had to look for materials In the beginning, it was unsystematic and chaotic, but after that, it became a kind

of acquisition We found the task easier, probably because we got used to it With harder tasks, our techno-savvy classmates would help, such as cutting the audio files If they were too busy, they would give us the instructions and software so we could do it ourselves (Binh)

As Binh’s quote reveals, the course requirements enhanced their ICT proficiency, tially adding to the global effects on their learning through technoscapes

poten-This EMI TE programme illustrated the Vietnamese university’s strategic response toglobalisation The programme also had a national dimension It was expected to contribute

to Vietnam’s development via its special framework for EFL TE It trained high qualityhuman resources in line with international standards, specifically those of the AUN(ASEAN University Network), signifying Vietnam’s aspiration to integrate into the globa-lised world

Binh’s excerpt shows that the PSTs attributed their ICT competence to their classmatesand course assignments rather than the University’s limited formal ICT course Analysis ofthe national context further explains their ICT competence, their reliance on internet-gen-erated materials, and the high demand for English

In Appadurai’s (1996) terms, technoscapes and financescapes primarily account for thisphenomenon As noted, with the Doi Moi policy Vietnam adopted a regulated marketeconomy, opened itself to the world and actively integrated into the global and regionaleconomies These developments have been associated with the surge in the popularity ofEnglish as a‘world language’ (Nguyen, 2011), English related jobs, and rapid growth inthe ICT sector in Vietnam These developments enabled the PSTs to work in part-timeEnglish-related jobs Vietnam has seen rapid developments in international communi-cations Between 2002 and 2007 the proportion of the population with internet accessincreased from 1.8% to 20%, reaching 25.3% in 2009 (Vietnam Forum of EnvironmentalJournalists, 2009), almost 7% higher than the average for developing countries (Inter-national Telecommunication Union, 2012) This explained why the PSTs in this study all