Fostering Pre-Service Teachers’ Critical Multilingual Language Awareness: Use of Multimodal Compositions to Confront Hegemonic Language Ideologies

Abstract

Drawing upon tenets of Critical Multilingual Language Awareness (CMLA), we analyzed multimodal compositions created by preservice teachers (PSTs) from two institutions to investigate their meaning-making at the nexus of language, identity, and power. Through analysis of PSTs’ multimodal compositions, reflective writing about their coursework, and retrospective interviews, participants shared how these compositions informed their working understandings of CMLA in relation to monoglossic and raciolinguistic language ideologies. Findings from our study suggest that through multimodal composition, PSTs demonstrated varied levels of awareness that one’s language practices determine whether they experience acceptance, belonging, and access to education; some PSTs also acknowledged that teachers serve as adjudicators of language, who may reinforce or reject hegemonic language ideologies. This study reinforces the efficacy of integrating opportunities for PSTs to represent their learning through multimodal composition to foster their CMLA.