Complexities in introducing plurilingualism to ESL teacher trainees in a multicultural context

This article explores the negotiation of plurilingualism within the multilingual context of Malaysia. While plurilingualism is often championed as an approach to empower linguistic minorities and challenge monolingual norms, implementation of the approach in societies where plurilingualism is a lived reality is less understood. This study examines a 2-week module involving 27 pre-service English language teachers who created language portraits and reconstructed literary texts using their collective linguistic repertoires. It was assumed that participants who live plurilingual realities would embrace plurilingualism. Analysis did reveal linguistic diversity among participants as they demonstrated nuanced and sophisticated plurilingual responses. However, findings also revealed several points of tension. To participants, plurilingualism is perceived as discordant with their future professional identity as English teachers. In addition, one’s linguistic repertoire may contain negative sociopolitical experiences with language where proficiency in a language may be resented instead of celebrated. The study concludes that introducing plurilingualism in a multilingual society requires moving beyond celebratory rhetoric and assumptions of positivity. Instead, practitioners must be prepared to negotiate sociopolitical complexities, individual emotional histories, and ingrained institutional hierarchies that influence how languages are truly lived and taught.