English Language Teaching in a Multilingual World

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Teacher Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2024) | Viewed by 9858

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department Curriculum Studies, Stellenbosch University, Matieland 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Interests: teaching English in multilingual education contexts

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Secondary and Post Schooling Education, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6139, South Africa
Interests: English as a language of instruction (ELI); languagised learning; linguistic superdiversity; translanguaging

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ortega (2013:14) is often credited for using the term ‘the multilingual turn’ for the first time to explain one of the challenges in second language acquisition (SLA) in the 21st century. In fact, she believes that situating second language acquisition in a bi/multilingual context “will most radically impact on the field’s [i.e. SLA’s] continued and growing transdisciplinary relevance in the 21st century”. In a world where English is taught and learnt for multiple purposes, it seems facile to say that it needs to find its place as one language among many, and yet, for many teachers, their students’ multilingual background is ignored, or at best, regarded as a hindrance. Garcia, Flores, Seltzer, Wei, Otheguy and Rosa (2021:5) point to “the lack of attention to racialized bilingual students, whom teachers evaluate only through what they can do in English”. From the decolonial perspective of Garcia et al. (2021:6), they strive “to engage educators and their students in critical decolonial thinking about language and education”, a battle cry also raised by Gerald (2020) in his challenge to all English language teachers to decenter whiteness and the ‘ideal’ of sounding like a white native speaker of English. As Ortega (2018:65) points out, despite the growth of World Englishes, “SLA and WE seem to have led parallel, incommensurable lives” for the past sixty years, and she calls for a “multilingually-attuned ethos” among researchers and teachers.

Against this backdrop, we call for papers that address the teaching of English in a multilingual world, with a focus on issues such as:

  • English language teacher education for a multilingual world;
  • Researching English language acquisition beyond middle-class, higher education students;
  • Decolonising English language teaching in a multilingual world;
  • The place of translanguaging in English language teaching;
  • Linguistic superdiversity and English as a medium of instruction;
  • ‘Troubling the waters’, using lingua receptiva in multilingual ESL classrooms;
  • Languaging and languagised learning.

Prof. Dr. Christa Van der Walt
Prof. Dr. Nhlanhla Mpofu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • English language teaching
  • English language teacher education
  • multilingual education
  • multilingualism
  • translanguaging
  • world Englishes
  • decoloniality
  • critical language awareness

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 252 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Self-Efficacy through the Use of ELF in a Multilingual World
by Shoichi Matsumura and Taichi Tatsuyama
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(4), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14040434 - 22 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1678
Abstract
The teaching practicum, a psychologically demanding phase of professional development, yields diverse self-efficacy outcomes for pre-service teachers. While it is crucial to view the practicum as a cornerstone for shaping teaching beliefs, there exists a research gap in understanding its influence on the [...] Read more.
The teaching practicum, a psychologically demanding phase of professional development, yields diverse self-efficacy outcomes for pre-service teachers. While it is crucial to view the practicum as a cornerstone for shaping teaching beliefs, there exists a research gap in understanding its influence on the self-efficacy of pre-service English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in East Asia and delving into the cognitive processes during this period. This mixed-methods study (n = 18) aimed to address this gap. The quantitative results revealed an overall increase in participants’ self-efficacy, notably in classroom management. The qualitative findings uncovered challenges faced by those with lower self-efficacy, particularly when discrepancies arose with mentor teachers over teaching English through a communicative approach. Conversely, individuals with linguistically and culturally diverse pre-practicum experiences exhibited resilience while maintaining robust beliefs about their own teaching. The findings suggest the necessity for tailored teacher preparation programs aiming at nurturing a multilingual perspective through interaction in English as a lingua franca. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue English Language Teaching in a Multilingual World)
15 pages, 616 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Topic Selection on Lexico-Grammatical Errors and Scores in English Oral Proficiency Interviews of Korean College Students
by Yongkook Won and Sunhee Kim
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 695; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070695 - 9 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1528
Abstract
The primary objective of this study is to identify the types of errors made by Korean college students in an oral proficiency interview in relation to specific task topics, and to examine how these errors affect their lexico-grammatical proficiency scores. Ninety-six two-minute-long audio [...] Read more.
The primary objective of this study is to identify the types of errors made by Korean college students in an oral proficiency interview in relation to specific task topics, and to examine how these errors affect their lexico-grammatical proficiency scores. Ninety-six two-minute-long audio clips of 32 Korean college students on three different topics were transcribed. Lexico-grammatical errors were then coded for statistical analysis and lexico-grammatical scores were estimated using many-facet Rasch measurement analysis with two raters. Friedman tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed that noun phrase, verb phrase, and prepositional phrase errors were more frequently found with the descriptive tasks than compare-and-contrast or hypothetical prompts. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that noun phrase and verb phrase errors accounted for 22% of the variance in lexico-grammatical scores. Adding utterance length variables to the initial regression model explained an additional 43% of the variance in the lexico-grammatical scores. These findings suggest that noun phrase errors and verb phrase errors should be a priority in English classes, and that it is beneficial to teach English speaking skills in a way that takes into account the task characteristics and contextual factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue English Language Teaching in a Multilingual World)
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1539 KiB  
Article
Bilingual Science Lexicon of Pre-Serviced Primary School Teachers
by Magdalena López-Pérez, Juan Luis de la Montaña Conchiña, José Luis Bravo Galán and Guadalupe de la Maya Retamar
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(5), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13050464 - 30 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1570
Abstract
Bilingual teaching has experienced rapid growth in the Spanish educational panorama and numerous university programmes have emerged with the aim of training future CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) teachers. However, there is little research assessing the level of linguistic competence in Spanish [...] Read more.
Bilingual teaching has experienced rapid growth in the Spanish educational panorama and numerous university programmes have emerged with the aim of training future CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) teachers. However, there is little research assessing the level of linguistic competence in Spanish and foreign languages of future teachers, especially those who are studying for a bilingual degree. Although this work is part of a broader project that analyses bilingual lexical competence in subjects related to the Social Sciences and Experimental Sciences, we focus on the analysis of lexical availability of content related to the teaching of science. The sample consisted of 46 students of the Degree in Primary Education at the University of Extremadura. Using a lexical availability test, lexical production in Spanish and English is analysed and compared to determine whether the fact of studying in English affects the acquisition and consolidation of lexical knowledge in Spanish. The results show that there are no significant differences in lexical production between Spanish and English. In addition to the quantitative data, results from the qualitative analysis are presented, analysing the most available words and the organisation of the lexicon in both languages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue English Language Teaching in a Multilingual World)
Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 247 KiB  
Article
Developing Critical Perspectives among EFL Learners: Insights from Language Educators
by Sami Abdullah Hamdi
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(1), 81; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13010081 - 12 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3718
Abstract
The number of English as a foreign language (EFL) programs has increased around the world. However, they lack a critical perspective. Throughout their learning, EFL learners are exposed to diverse sociocultural and sociopolitical content that should be approached with a critical stance. EFL [...] Read more.
The number of English as a foreign language (EFL) programs has increased around the world. However, they lack a critical perspective. Throughout their learning, EFL learners are exposed to diverse sociocultural and sociopolitical content that should be approached with a critical stance. EFL educators play a significant role in designing the curriculum and teaching EFL programs. The current study explores their views and opinions on incorporating critical language awareness (CLA) in EFL or English as a second language programs to develop critical perspectives among learners. The findings of this study revealed a recognition of the need for CLA in EFL classrooms in the context of a more socially informed learning experience. Three major themes arose from the interviews: making EFL teaching and learning informed by the social context, applying critical discourse analysis (CDA) and critical thinking skills as analytical tools to social issues, and empowering EFL educators with the appropriate professional training. The study’s findings also showed that the participants had a positive attitude and readiness to integrate CLA in EFL classrooms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue English Language Teaching in a Multilingual World)
Back to TopTop