Navigating New Territories: A Multiple Case Study on Non- English Teachers turned to Foreign English Teachers

This qualitative multiple-case study examines the lived experiences of three Filipino teachers who, without formal degrees in English or English Language Education, became English language teachers in foreign educational settings. Their journeys to the English teaching profession underscore the intricacies and difficulties experienced by non-English major instructors in environments where native-speaker norms and regulations are common. The research uses in-depth, semi-structured interviews as the main means of gathering data and is informed by transformative learning and postcolonial language ideologies frameworks. The study investigates three key aspects of their teaching careers: (1) the difficulties encountered, including communicative and linguistic limitations, recognition of qualifications problems, classroom norms embedded in native cultures, convergence with unknown curricula, multicultural classroom management, and both implicit and explicit discrimination based on native-speakerism; (2) the coping strategies used, such as incorporating multimodal, student-centered pedagogy, culturally sensitive and reflective teaching methods, networking with local and international teachers, and participation in both formal and informal professional development; and (3) the transformative gains achieved, which include the acquisition of intercultural communicative competence, validation of their legitimacy as non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs), enhanced instructional confidence, and a reaffirmation of commitment to inclusive education. The study's findings highlight the cultural intelligence, flexibility, and resilience of these teachers, who can overcome institutional constraints and cultural dissonance through professional agency and creativity. Their experiences problematize hegemonic ideologies linking English teaching competence to nativeness and native accented English, and instead speak to the pedagogic potential of linguistic variability and multicultural viewpoints. By placing at the center, the voices of Filipino non-English-major teachers, this study contributes to the sparse but expanding corpus of research on NNESTs in the Global South. Consequences of this research are expansive: it demands greater just recruitment policies, a change in teacher education curriculum to involve intercultural and multilingual pedagogies, and institutional mechanisms of support that empower NNESTs. Ultimately, it calls for a paradigm shift toward recognizing English as a global lingua franca ORIGINAL ARTICLE Authors retain copyright. Articles published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) International License. This license allows this work to be copied, distributed, remixed, transformed, and built upon for any purpose provided that appropriate attribution is given, a link is provided to the license, and changes made were indicated. 594 and embracing the legitimacy of multi-English language teaching identities in the global education framework.