Pamela Stacey has joined the Founding Faculty of Fulbright University Vietnam.
Pamela Stacey comes to FUV from RMIT University Vietnam, where she has worked as a Senior English Educator and Academic Skills Instructor since 2017.
At RMIT, Pamela supported first-year Vietnamese students in enhancing their English abilities and university skills both before and during their academic studies.
Before coming to Vietnam, Pamela taught an intensive English program at Kapiʻolani Community College and led a team of peer tutors and mentors in a learning support center at the University of Hawaiʻi.
She has also taught English in Seoul, Korea and in her home state, Michigan.
Pamela completed her M.A. at the University of Hawaiʻi in 2014. While pursuing her graduate studies, she conducted her primary research in the area of interactional sociolinguistics (IS), a form of discourse analysis. In her work with learning support programs, she identified micro-behavioral “moves”, such as laughter, telling of narratives, pauses, and interruptions, that both tutors and tutees make in one-on-one reading and writing conferences.
These moves form one part of a larger picture that determines the success of one-on-one learning interactions.
During her M.A. studies, Pamela completed her teaching practicum at Ubon Ratchathani University, Thailand, where she conducted research on collaborative writing projects and Thai student motivations and identities.
After receiving M.A. degree, she has continued researching in the area of academic writing development for university students.
Prior to her graduate studies, Pamela received a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan, where she first became interested in teaching language.
Pamela also uses her teaching to create safe and inclusive learning environments for all students, including those who identify as LGBTQIA+. She views being out as a queer female teacher as an important step towards providing positive role models for queer youth.
In the past, she has used her connections to local queer communities and organizations to build bridges between her schools and these communities, to the benefit of both. She hopes to continue this work at FUV.
I couldn’t be more thrilled to join Fulbright University Vietnam. For me, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in building a collaborative, challenging, and student-centered academic experience from the ground up.
This university represents an innovative approach to higher education not only in Vietnam, but in our world, and I am honored to be a part of it.
“My first project at FUV will be getting the Co-Design Year English Bridge Program up and running. I cannot wait to meet this year’s Bridge Program students, to share with them all of my ideas for how we can best support them in this transition, and to listen to their ideas and feedback with an open mind.
I plan to build a community where the students support each other, collaborate together, and learn from and with each other.
Incoming Bridge Program students can expect to be asked to share their thoughts and experiences at every step, and in turn that these experiences will be received and responded to in order to make this program the best it can be.
“Unlike traditional English Bridge Programs, I am planning a program that will not be an English-only environment. I bring my whole self to school, and I want my students to bring their whole selves too, including their first-language knowledge.
Research supports the idea that students learn language best when they are invited to integrated their new language, English, with their mother tongue in meaningful ways, instead of being asked to leave it behind at the classroom door.
Of course, certain activities, for example where speaking in English is the main purpose, will necessarily be conducted in English.
However, during other activities, for example where producing a collaborative written text is the purpose, students may be invited to discuss and negotiate together in Vietnamese (or other mother tongue).
I ask that students keep an open mind and reflect on how they themselves learn best – this program will be quite different from all their English-learning experiences so far!
