Language teachers’ attitudes towards English in a multilingual setting

Abstract

With the growth of English as a global language, there is a need for change in English Language Teaching (ELT) practices that should reflect the use of English for global communication (Cameron & Galloway, 2019). Prior to implementing such change in ELT informed by the perspective of Global Englishes (GE) it is important to conduct research on attitudes towards English which offers insights into the feasibility of the ELT curriculum innovation. Although research on language attitudes is growing, there are few studies on teachers' attitudes towards English conducted from the perspective of their multilingualism (Gorter & Arocena, 2020). By addressing this gap, the present research reveals that the teachers' attitudes to English in the context of higher education in Kazakhstan are related to dominant language ideologies which might impact incorporating GE and ELT in a multilingual setting. Interpreted within a sociolinguistic context of Kazakhstan the findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how teachers’ language attitudes are enacted in relation to their multilingualism in order to move forward discussions on the feasibility of GE-informed curriculum innovation.