Reclaiming Voice: English Language Teachers, Arabic Publishing, and Academic Legitimacy in Kuwait

This study examines how English-dominant publication expectations shape English language teachers’ professional voice, linguistic agency, and perceptions of research purpose in Kuwait. Drawing on an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study combines questionnaire responses from 50 MA- and PhD-qualified English language instructors with semi-structured interviews with 10 participants. The analysis is informed by critical applied linguistics, language policy, linguistic capital, language ideology, and epistemic justice. Findings show that teachers do not reject English as a language of international academic visibility, but they question its dominance as the sole recognized medium for promotion and scholarly legitimacy. While participants acknowledged the professional value of English-medium publication, many also viewed Arabic-medium and bilingual publication as essential for improving local accessibility, policy relevance, and educational impact. The study suggests that participants perceived English-dominant publication expectations as a system of constraints that privileges English as institutional linguistic capital while limiting the formal recognition of Arabic as a medium of knowledge production. It concludes that recognizing Arabic and bilingual publication would not weaken academic standards, but would support more locally responsive, accessible, and epistemically just forms of educational research in Kuwait.