Becoming an English Teacher With a Multilingual Repertoire: Funds of Knowledge of a Trilingual Novice English Teacher

Abstract

This chapter presents a qualitative case study which explores the journey of becoming a multilingual English teacher. Through semi-structured interviews supplemented with the various artifacts in learning and teaching, the data captures a trilingual teacher's longitudinal experience of studying in teacher education and moving into the first teaching career. Framed in the notions of funds of knowledge and translingual practice, the findings illustrate how the teacher leveraged a multilingual repertoire and balanced diverse funds of knowledge with contextual factors. The study enriches the literature on ELT by highlighting how the teacher could maintain a balance between teaching English and restoring the value of diverse multilingual knowledge.