‘Am I multilingual?’ The relationship between pre-service teachers’ multilingual identities, language experiences and beliefs about multilingualism

Morea, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0623-3078 and Fisher, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7916-9199 (2025) ‘Am I multilingual?’ The relationship between pre-service teachers’ multilingual identities, language experiences and beliefs about multilingualism. The Language Learning Journal. ISSN 0957-1736 doi: 10.1080/09571736.2025.2549115

Abstract/Summary

Despite an increase in research on language learners’ multilingual identities (MId), the construct of teacher multilingual identities as a gateway to linguistically inclusive teaching remains under-researched, and the factors shaping teachers’ willingness to claim and express a multilingual identity remain unclear. This article explores two factors that might influence teachers’ MId, namely teachers’ language experience and beliefs about multilingualism. MId data was obtained through a questionnaire administered to 117 pre-service teachers spanning subject specialism in England. A sub-sample of 51 participants also completed a Q-sorting activity where they expressed their views of multilingualism. Correlation analyses revealed that perceived language fluency had the strongest association with MId. Furthermore, those participants who held a prescriptive view of languages and perceived multilingualism as the exception in schools also tended to express a monolingual identity. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study findings for researchers and teacher educators.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/125088
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/09571736.2025.2549115
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Institute of Education
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item