Challenging monolingual paradigms in early childhood Arabic teacher education: can translanguaging reshape pre-service teachers’ beliefs?

Monolingual ideologies continue to shape language teacher preparation, often limiting pre-service teachers’ capacity to engage multilingual learners in early childhood settings. This qualitative study examines whether translanguaging pedagogy can challenge monolingual paradigms in early childhood Arabic teacher education and reshape pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. A structured workshop introducing translanguaging principles was implemented within a teacher preparation program. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and lesson plan analyses, and examined using thematic analysis. Findings indicate a noticeable shift from monolingual, target-language-only orientations toward more flexible, culturally responsive, and pedagogically inclusive perspectives. Participants began to reconceptualize Arabic teaching not as language containment but as dynamic meaning-making across linguistic resources. The study highlights the potential of translanguaging-informed coursework to foster belief transformation and pedagogical reflexivity in early childhood teacher education. Implications are discussed for redesigning Arabic language teacher preparation programs to better address multilingual realities.