Jul 2026· Education & Pedagogy Journal· 0 citations· 21 references
Abstract
This study examines how bilingual EFL teachers in Saudi higher education perceive and negotiate their professional identities while teaching monolingual Arabic-speaking students in English-only institutional settings. Grounded in poststructuralist identity, translanguaging, and language ideology theories, the research explores the intersection of pedagogy, identity, and institutional regulation in post-monolingual EFL classrooms. Using a qualitative multiple-case study design, data were collected from 10 bilingual instructors at 3 universities through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and reflective teaching journals over a 6-week period. The data were thematically analysed to enable coding, triangulation, and cross-case comparison. Findings show that teachers strategically used Arabic to scaffold complex content, maintain learner engagement, and address the affective dimensions of teaching, while navigating English-only policy constraints through selective compliance and subtle resistance. Reflective journals revealed identity dissonance stemming from tensions between pedagogical beliefs and institutional expectations, with reflection serving as a mechanism for ethical sense-making and professional resilience. Rather than passive policy implementers, the teachers emerged as reflexive practitioners who constructed professional identity through translanguaging, emotional reflexivity, and adaptive pedagogy. The study highlights the need for institutional policies that recognise and support teachers’ multilingual repertoires in Saudi EFL contexts.
В статье рассматривается проблема формирования и согласования профессиональной идентичности билингвальных преподавателей английского языка как иностранного в системе высшего образования Саудовской Аравии. Особое внимание уделяется условиям преподавания монолингвальным институциональной среде, арабоязычным ориентированной на студентам в использование исключительно английского языка. Теоретико-методологическую основу исследования составили постструктуралистские подходы к изучению идентичности, концепция транслингвизма и теория языковых идеологий. В центре анализа находится взаимосвязь педагогической практики, профессиональной идентичности преподавателя и институционального регулирования в постмонолингвальной образовательной аудитории. Исследование выполнено в логике качественного множественного кейс-стади. Эмпирическую базу составили данные, полученные в течение шести недель от 10 билингвальных преподавателей трех университетов. В качестве методов сбора данных использовались полуструктурированные интервью, аудиторные наблюдения и рефлексивные преподавательские дневники. Обработка материалов осуществлялась с применением тематического анализа, включавшего кодирование, триангуляцию данных и межкейсовое сопоставление. Результаты исследования показали, что преподаватели целенаправленно обращались к арабскому языку для объяснения сложного учебного материала, поддержания вовлеченности студентов и работы с эмоционально-аффективными аспектами обучения. При этом они были вынуждены учитывать ограничения институциональной политики «только английский язык», сочетая частичное соблюдение установленных требований с формами скрытого педагогического сопротивления. Анализ рефлексивных дневников позволил выявить диссонанс профессиональной идентичности, возникающий вследствие противоречия между педагогическими убеждениями преподавателей и институциональными ожиданиями. Рефлексия в данном контексте выступала как механизм этического осмысления профессиональной деятельности и поддержания профессиональной устойчивости. Сделан вывод о том, что билингвальные преподаватели не являются пассивными исполнителями языковой политики. Напротив, они выступают как рефлексивные субъекты педагогической практики, конструирующие профессиональную идентичность через транслингвальные стратегии, эмоциональную рефлексивность и адаптивные формы преподавания. Полученные результаты указывают на необходимость разработки институциональных языковых политик, признающих и поддерживающих многоязычные ресурсы преподавателей в контексте обучения английскому языку как иностранному в Саудовской Аравии.
This study explores how pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in Vietnam construct their professional identities during teaching practicum. Framed within sociocultural theory (SCT), it examines both the factors that mediate their identity development and the processes through which identity is negotiated. Data were collected from five pre-service teachers through reflective journals written over two months and two rounds of interviews. Using holistic and categorical narrative analysis, the study found that teacher identity was mediated by mentors, students, peers, and institutional regulations, while also shaped by emotional experiences, reflection, and agency. Contradictions between university-based pedagogy and classroom realities emerged as central to identity negotiation. The study contributes theoretically by highlighting the longitudinal development of identity across practicum stages and practically by offering insights into designing teacher education programs that integrate formal regulations with supportive mentoring, peer collaboration, and opportunities for reflection.
Introduction This study explores how postcolonial criticism is pedagogically translated into classroom practice and received by students in multicultural literature classrooms. It examines students’ engagement with five focal postcolonial concepts—otherness, hybridity, mimicry, subalternity, and ambivalence—and considers how their cultural backgrounds and prior understanding of postcolonial criticism shape their reception of these concepts. Methods Adopting a qualitative research design, the study collected data over one academic semester through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Participants included 10 undergraduate students in literature-related humanities programs, with two each from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and China, together with three university instructors teaching literature and literary theory. Classroom observations were conducted across 12 teaching sessions. Interview transcripts and observational field notes were analyzed thematically, with cross-cultural comparison and triangulation used to identify conceptual difficulties, pedagogical practices, and patterns of student reception. Results Students struggled with the complexity of theoretical language and displayed uneven prior understanding of postcolonial criticism’s anti-colonial and anti-Eurocentric foundations. Their understanding also varied across the five concepts: otherness and hybridity were relatively more accessible because students could connect them with experiences of marginality, cultural mixing, and identity negotiation, whereas mimicry, subalternity, and ambivalence required greater conceptual and historical clarification. Localized examples, dialogic teaching methods, and peer perspectives improved the accessibility of theoretical discourse. Reception also varied across cultural contexts: Malaysian and Chinese students connected the theory to identity and marginality; Japanese and South Korean participants showed ambivalence toward its relevance and applicability; and Russian students often resisted its application to their own literary and cultural contexts. Discussion The findings highlight the classroom as an interpretive community in which postcolonial theory is not only simplified for pedagogical purposes but also negotiated, contested, and reimagined through cross-cultural interaction. Students’ resistance and ambivalence may therefore function as forms of critical engagement rather than simply as failures of comprehension. These results underscore the need for adaptive pedagogical strategies that balance theoretical rigor, conceptual clarity, historical grounding, and cultural sensitivity in literary education.
Zhanchen Wan, Xiaoyu Wang· Frontiers in Psychology· 0 citations
English-medium instruction (EMI) has expanded across Bangladeshi higher education as a marker of academic quality, internationalisation, and graduate employability. Yet the institutional promotion of English does not necessarily translate into sustained English-medium classroom interaction or improved opportunities for students’ language development. This qualitative multiple-case study examines how EMI is interpreted, negotiated, and enacted across three private universities in Bangladesh. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with six teachers of content-oriented English-department courses and 18 final-year undergraduate students, three student focus-group discussions, and three classroom observations. The dataset was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, supported by iterative coding, memo writing, within-case analysis, and cross-case comparison. Findings indicate that EMI functioned less as a stable English-only instructional model than as a negotiated bilingual practice shaped by uneven English proficiency, time constraints, and institutional expectations. Teachers used Bangla to clarify difficult concepts, sustain interaction, and support comprehension, while students valued English for its academic and professional benefits but often experienced English-only instruction as limiting confidence, participation, and access to disciplinary knowledge. Bilingual mediation, however, rarely formed part of a systematic approach to academic-English development. The central tension therefore lies not simply in teachers’ departure from English-only instruction, but in universities’ expectation that EMI will deliver both disciplinary learning and English proficiency without adequate linguistic, pedagogical, and assessment support. Conceptualising this tension as the EMI institutional promise–practice paradox, the study argues for a linguistically responsive model that combines planned bilingual scaffolding, explicit disciplinary-language development, language-sensitive assessment, and sustained teacher support. By showing how bilingual mediation both sustains and complicates EMI, the study contributes to debates on multilingual pedagogy, linguistic equity, and institutional responsibility in multilingual higher education.
Sultana Jahan· ICRRD Quality Index Research...· 0 citations
The debate between monolingual English-medium instruction (EMI) and multilingual pedagogy has gained increasing attention in multilingual societies, where English functions as a global lingua franca. At the same time, local languages hold cultural and cognitive value. This study examines students' perspectives on English-medium and multilingual instruction through a qualitative, praxis-oriented investigation conducted at Pak-Turk Marif International School and The City School, Hyderabad, Pakistan. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective written responses from ESL students (n = 10). Guided by a praxis framework and informed by translingual theory and critical pedagogy, the study moves from identifying a classroom-based issue to generating contextual evidence, analyzing student responses, and reflecting on pedagogical implications. The data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, which allowed key patterns to emerge from the students' experiences. The findings reveal a clear preference for multilingual pedagogy, with ( n=7) participants favoring the use of multiple languages to enhance comprehension, inclusivity, and engagement. In contrast,(n=3) respondents supported EMI, primarily for reasons of consistency and English language development. Importantly, even among EMI supporters, English was viewed as an instrumental resource rather than an inherently superior medium of cognition. The study demonstrates that multilingual pedagogical practices better align with students’ learning needs and socio-cultural contexts. The study argues for flexible, context-sensitive language practices that integrate English without marginalizing local languages. It also opens new gates for future research.
Shuhban Ali Siyal, Sajid Ali Umrani, M. Farooq et al.· Journal of Arts and Linguist...· 0 citations
In South African multilingual classrooms, assessment remains constrained by monolingual English frameworks, creating a systemic contradiction with additive bilingualism policies. This qualitative study explores how pre-service teachers navigate this contradiction and argues that they are often socialized into a “pedagogy of compromise.” Within this approach, translanguaging is accepted as a scaffold in formative assessment but largely excluded from high-stakes summative assessment, thereby sustaining English's dominance. Drawing on questionnaire and interview data from twenty-fourth-year pre-service teachers, the study, using reflexive thematic analysis, identifies a persistent gap between beliefs and practices. While participants recognized the potential value of translanguaging, many showed conceptual confusion between translanguaging and code-switching. In practice, home languages were predominantly used as a bridge to support learning, rather than as legitimate resources for demonstrating knowledge in assessment. Informed by sociocultural perspectives on learning and language interdependence, and critically attentive to the dominance of English in education, the findings suggest that supporting translanguaging in assessment requires more than technical training. It also involves engaging with underlying language ideologies that shape South African classrooms and assessment practices. The paper concludes by recommending that teacher education programs should create opportunities for critical dialogue, provide practical experience in designing multilingual assessments, and support greater alignment between language policy and assessment practices.
Olabisi F. Olaoye· ACITYA Journal of Teaching &...· 0 citations
This study investigates the pedagogical beliefs of French and English language teachers in a diverse, plurilingual context. Drawing on data from 57 pre‐service and in‐service teachers, it examines how beliefs vary according to teaching experience and target language (TL) taught in diverse educational settings. Data were collected through an online questionnaire and follow‐up focus groups. Questionnaire responses were analyzed descriptively and statistically, while focus group data underwent thematic coding. Overall, participants supported meaning‐oriented and communicative approaches, with openness to plurilingual strategies. Notable variations emerged: novice teachers were more receptive to learner‐centered and plurilingual practices, whereas experienced teachers favored a more balanced approach integrating form and meaning. Beliefs about pronunciation, reading, and the use of learners’ first languages also differed based on language taught and teaching context. These findings point to the importance of differentiated professional development that reflects teachers’ profiles and realities, recognizing the diverse beliefs they bring into increasingly plurilingual classrooms.
Pierre-Luc Paquet, Nerea Villabona, Mikel Gartziarena· International Journal of App...· 0 citations