EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Linguistically and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Globalisation, increased transnational mobility, and increasing refugee populations are closely related to multilingualism, linguistic diversity, and cultural diversity (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015; Jaspers et al., 2010; Phipps, 2019). According to Wernicke et al. (in Preparing teachers to work with multilingual learners. Multilingual Matters, 2021), attention to multilingualism and multiculturalism in educational settings is important to raising awareness and recognition of linguistic and cultural diversity at the individual and societal levels. This study investigated the beliefs of 100 university students—future teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Cyprus—regarding multilingualism, multiculturalism, and inclusive education. Their ages ranged from 18 to 25 years; their first language (L1) was Cypriot Greek; and they all resided in Cyprus at the time of the study. The students were asked to write online blog entries based on the discussions and materials covered in class on the topic of multilingualism, multiculturalism, linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogy, diversity, and inclusion in EFL classes, as well as the teaching methods, approaches, and techniques that could be implemented in linguistically and culturally heterogeneous classes. The analysis of the data showed that the future EFL teachers had an overall positive attitude towards multilingualism, multiculturalism, and inclusive education, suggesting that these aspects should be promoted.