Embracing linguistic and cultural diversity in multilingual EAL classrooms: The impact of professional development on teacher beliefs and practice

This study investigated the impact of professional development on teacher beliefs and practices in linguistically heterogeneous EAL classrooms. Structured classroom observations and semi-structured interviews were used to assess the progress of three EAL teachers at a Norwegian primary school who participated in monthly professional development workshops. The longitudinal findings suggest that although the teachers developed positive beliefs about multilingualism and multilingually-oriented education, they tended to persist in monolingual teaching practices, did not acknowledge linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroom, and failed to employ multilingual teaching strategies systematically. •Monthly professional development (PD) with in-service English teachers in Norway.•Teachers hold positive views of multilingually-oriented education.•Participation in PD can heighten sensitivity towards multilingual students.•Monolingual teaching practices continue to dominate linguistically diverse classrooms.