Practices, Purposes, Ideologies: A Quantitative Study of Language Use in English Language Teacher Education

Abstract

Higher education programs in the Global South are increasingly adopting English-medium instruction in a variety of multilingual contexts, where language use practices often diverge from language of instruction policy. Language use practices are particularly relevant in Latin American English language teacher education, where programs may struggle to develop teachers’ English proficiency and other learning outcomes simultaneously. This quantitative study conducted in Ecuador examines teacher educators’ use of English, Spanish, or multilingual approaches in teaching content courses (e.g., pedagogical methods, research methods, teaching practicums, linguistics). Survey data from 115 teacher educators at 21 universities and OLS regression were used to examine the relationship of language use practices to valued purposes of teacher education, prevalent language ideologies, and teacher educator characteristics. Findings show that English predominated, but an English-only approach was not the norm. How much teacher educators incorporated Spanish in English-medium instruction was significantly related to prioritizing teacher empowerment, to beliefs about language, and to their own English proficiency. This study of English-language teacher educators may help educators across English-medium instruction higher education critically (re)examine how they use language, justify their approaches, and advocate for appropriate administrative and pedagogical support.