Language Teacher Education In A Multilingual Context

This collection examines a diverse range of approaches to multilingualism in teacher education programmes across Europe and North America. The authors investigate how pre-service teachers are being prepared to work in multilingual contexts and discuss the key features of current pre-service teacher education initiatives that address the increasing linguistic and cultural diversity evident in classrooms in their respective countries. The focus is not only on migrant-background learners but includes students from Indigenous, autochthonous and heritage language backgrounds, and speakers of minoritised regional varieties. The chapters contextualise, both historically and ideologically, the specific initiatives and measures taken in the participating countries. They also reveal the complexity of each educational context and the role that history, language policies and institutional and programmatic priorities play in the development and implementation of a multilingual focus in teacher education. In exploring how pre-service teachers are being prepared to work in multilingual contexts, the authors take a critical view of how multilingualism itself is conceptualised within and across contexts. The book highlights the valuable impact that explicit instruction on theories of multilingualism, pedagogies in multilingual classrooms and lived realities of multilingual children can have on the beliefs and practices of pre-service teachers.

This book provides a multifaceted, multilayered examination of the processes and challenges language teachers face in constructing their professional identities in multilingual contexts such as Hong Kong. It focuses on how professional and personal identities are enacted as individuals cross geographic, educational, and socio-cultural boundaries to become English language teachers in Hong Kong. It explores the construction of language teachers’ professional identities from multiple perspectives in multiple settings, including pre-service and in-service teachers from Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Western countries. Understanding the difficulties and challenges these language teachers face in their identity and professional development is of relevance to teachers and teacher educators, as well as those interested in becoming language teachers in multilingual contexts.

This collection examines a diverse range of approaches to multilingualism in teacher education programmes across Europe and North America. The authors investigate how pre-service teachers are being prepared to work in multilingual contexts and discuss the key features of current pre-service teacher education initiatives that address the increasing linguistic and cultural diversity evident in classrooms in their respective countries. The focus is not only on migrant-background learners but includes students from Indigenous, autochthonous and heritage language backgrounds, and speakers of minoritised regional varieties. The chapters contextualise, both historically and ideologically, the specific initiatives and measures taken in the participating countries. They also reveal the complexity of each educational context and the role that history, language policies and institutional and programmatic priorities play in the development and implementation of a multilingual focus in teacher education. In exploring how pre-service teachers are being prepared to work in multilingual contexts, the authors take a critical view of how multilingualism itself is conceptualised within and across contexts. The book highlights the valuable impact that explicit instruction on theories of multilingualism, pedagogies in multilingual classrooms and lived realities of multilingual children can have on the beliefs and practices of pre-service teachers.

The education of second language teachers takes place across diverse contexts, levels, settings, and geographic regions. By bringing together research, theory, and best practices from a variety of contexts (ESL/EFL, foreign language, bilingual and immersion education), this book contributes to building meaningful professional dialogue among second-language teacher educators. Featuring an international roster of authors, the volume is comprised of 18 chapters organized in four thematic sections: the knowledge base of second language teacher education; second language teacher education contexts; collaborations in second language teacher education; and second language teacher education in practice. Second Language Teacher Education: International Perspectives is an essential professional resource for practicing and prospective second language teacher educators around the world.

This book offers an international account of the use of linguistic landscapes to promote multilingual education, from primary school to the university, and in teacher education programs. It brings linguistic landscapes to the forefront of multilingual education in school settings and teacher education, expanding the disciplinary domains through which they have been studied. Drawing on multidisciplinarity and placing linguistic landscapes in the field of language (teacher) education, this book presents empirical studies developed in eleven countries: Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mozambique, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and The United States. The chapters illustrate how multilingual pedagogies can be enhanced using linguistic landscapes in mainstream education and are written by partners of the Erasmus Plus project LoCALL “LOcal Linguistic Landscapes for global language education in the school context”.

Teaching language and teaching with languages is what is called for in contemporary classrooms, be they language classrooms or otherwise. When the learners' plurilingualism and societies' multilingualism have social, cultural or political implications, becoming aware of language matters is a necessity both for non-specialist teachers and language teachers alike. This book thus presents a variety of research-based perspectives on the cultural-political and social-educational domains of language awareness. Context, both historical, socio-economic, political and cultural has an undeniable impact on language attitudes and awareness, and the variety of different contexts contained in this volume - the Basque County, Catalonia (Spain), England (UK), Finland, Germany, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Portugal, Scotland (UK), and Turkey - testifies to this. As each chapter outlines the specificities and the impact of context upon language policies, attitudes and beliefs, the authors in this book focus on language awareness as a multi-faceted concept fit to play a major role in the reform processes of teacher education in the 21st century.

This book focuses on the challenges of teaching in diversely multilingual classrooms, discussing how these challenges and complexities interact in the preparation of teachers (language & content areas) in and for multilingual settings, and how they impact on educational processes, developments, and outcomes. Teacher education in multilingual contexts is a key topic and occupies an important position in efforts to improve educational outcomes and quality for all stakeholders. It is seen as essential for competitive participation in global economic activity and for providing opportunities to enjoy the benefits of increased prosperity. Teacher education is generally expected to address both the demand for multilingualism and the challenges of teaching in diversely multilingual classrooms, which are important foci at policy and institutional levels. For example, the demand for quality outcomes is manifested in state-administered standards and performance cultures that regulate entry and practices, and poses ethical and pedagogic dilemmas for teachers. This book presents high-quality empirical research on education in multilingual societies, highlighting findings that, in addition to providing descriptions of language learning, development, and use in language contact and multilingual contexts, will help shape future language education policy and practices in multilingual societies.

This volume demonstrates how various methodologies and tools have been used to analyze the multidimensional, dynamic, and complex nature of identities and professional development of language teachers in digital contexts that have not been adequately examined before. It therefore offers new understandings and conceptualizations of language teacher development and learning in varied digital environments. The collection of pieces illustrates a field that is recognizing that digital environments are the contexts of teacher learning, not simply the object of it, and that issues of identity and agency are central to that learning. As an excellent resource on digital technologies, CALL, gaming, or language teacher identity and agency, the book can be used as a textbook in various applied linguistics courses and graduate seminars.