Teacher Leadership in World Languages—To What End? Perspectives of U.S. Teacher Educators

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Abstract

As calls for expanded teacher leadership in the field of world languages have continued, little research or theorizing has considered the ultimate “ends” to which world language teacher leadership is being developed. To address this gap, this qualitative study interviewed 14 world language teacher educators across the United States to identify how they perceived the functions and intended outcomes of expanded world language teacher leadership. Results of the inductive analysis identified three themes representing how the participants perceived the purpose of teacher leadership: to advocate for the world language teaching profession, to advocate for language teachers, and to advocate for students. The findings contribute new understandings to discipline-specific and broader conceptualizations of teacher leadership.

Authors

• William Davis, University of Oklahoma

• Brianna Janssen Sánchez, University of Kentucky