Fostering Critical Multilingual Language Awareness through Linguistic Landscapes: A case study with future English teachers in Portugal

This paper presents a qualitative case study involving English language student teachers (STs) in Portugal, who participated in a program integrating Linguistic Landscapes (LLs) as a pedagogical tool. The study investigates how engaging with LLs supported the development of STs’ Critical Multilingual Language Awareness. Data were collected from whole-class discussions, written reflections and student-produced materials, and analyzed using content and discourse analysis. The results reveal that the program fostered a heightened awareness of the multilingual realities of public and educational spaces and encouraged STs to reflect critically on dominant language ideologies. Despite some tensions with curriculum constraints, participants increasingly envisioned their role as language educators in more inclusive and socially responsive terms. The study concludes that LLs can serve not only as objects of sociolinguistic inquiry but also as transformative resources in language teacher education, helping future teachers address linguistic and social inequalities and embrace multilingualism as a pedagogical asset in the EFL classroom.