Changeability of pre-service teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism: a person- and transition-centered approach

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Teachers of all subjects and grades must be aware of the linguistic and cultural diversity among their students, as children with migrant backgrounds often experience educational disadvantages. Teachers must thus acquire pedagogical language knowledge and skills in linguistically responsive teaching, and develop positive beliefs about multilingualism. In this study, we investigated the beliefs of 312 pre-service teachers from nine universities across Germany before and after participating in a linguistically responsive teaching course. A questionnaire was used to capture pre-service teachers’ beliefs about (1) valuing family languages other than German, (2) feeling responsible for language teaching, and (3) valuing multilingualism in class. Our findings showed a positive change in the participants’ beliefs about multilingualism after attending the course. Through an innovative analysis (latent transition analysis), we identified differences among beliefs, and distinguished three profiles of pre-service teachers: the uninvolved criticals, the responsible controllers, and the consistent supporters. Moreover, we found that the course changed the beliefs of half of the participants, which enabled them to move between the profiles. Most participants, who changed their positions, were members of the uninvolved criticals, and moved to a profile characterized by more positive beliefs. These results highlight the need for more linguistically responsive teaching courses in teacher education.