Teacher Educators’ Languaging for More Just English Language Education in Ecuador

Abstract

This article describes how English language teacher educators in Ecuador envision their languaging practices contributing to more just English language education in a Global South context. The study took a capabilities approach informed by Latin American decolonial theory. Findings are based on a qualitative thematic analysis of focus group interviews conducted with 37 instructors teaching English language teacher education content courses at 18 universities. The findings illustrate two distinct theories of change: through best practices and through contextualization. Teacher educators linked English-only practices with developing teacher English proficiency, holding teachers accountable to standards, and preparing them to ultimately enact global ‘best practices’ like maximizing classroom English to expand educational access. Alternatively, multilingual practices were linked to developing teacher identity and cognition, empowering teachers to differentiate instruction, and preparing them to ultimately enact contextualized pedagogies that—according to this alternate theory of change—would better serve marginalized learners