The Multilingual teacher: issues for teacher education

The role of multilingual teachers in English language education has been a focus of studies in the past decade. This article extends that research by examining the attitudes and behaviours of six multilingual teacher trainees and their mentor teachers during their practicum experience as part of a postgraduate certificate in TESOL. The findings indicate that, while language proficiency was perceived as a major challenge for these teachers in formation, the fact that they were role models for learners and had their own experiences of being a language learner were clear advantages. Additionally, many of the challenges they faced with developing pedagogical approaches that met their learners' needs were challenges faced by all novice teachers.