This paper examines the curricula for English language teacher education in two universities, one in Australia and the other in Vietnam. Specifically, it analyses the structures of the two curricula, compares and contrasts them, and examines how the development of the curricula was shaped by distinctive contextual factors. Sources of data include relevant literature, policy and curriculum documents, and interviews with curriculum developers from the two universities. Analysis of data revealed great variation across and within the two curricula in terms of structure and content. Findings also reveal specific contextual factors that influenced the development of the curricula. Although the findings are specific to the two teacher education institutions under research, the study suggests that curriculum development for second language teacher education needs to account for the context of teacher learning and offer substantial opportunity for preservice teachers to develop key domains of knowledge. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)