Understanding the knowledge practices of English language teaching professionals in Mexico

Determining what it takes to be an English language teacher (ELT) is an issue of constant debate. Often, when explaining the profession, the qualities, and abilities of the teacher as well as their implicit bodies of knowledge are put upfront leaving aside other underlying practices such as the context, the social space, and differing idiosyncrasies. This article explores those aspects from the perspective of nine English language teacher trainers from a BA program in a public university in Central Mexico. To understand what knowledge is at stake when exercising the teaching profession, we use Legitimation Code Theory to make visible the patterns of knowledge practices within the field in ELT. Generally, this field is portrayed as practical and homogeneous, composed of disciplines such as psychology, pedagogy and linguistics. Likewise, the English professional is portrayed as a subject specialist, ethically and socially committed and context sensitive. However, those findings look relationally different as teacher trainers add value to social critical practices over pedagogical and technical skills.