Pre-service English Language Arts teachers’ development of Critical Language Awareness for teaching

•We studied preservice English teachers’ development of Critical Language Awareness.•The teachers understood and appreciated dialect diversity and code-switching.•Teachers were less skilled at teaching about linguistic power and privilege.•Many teachers avoided discussing white privilege and racism.

This study examined pre-service English teachers’ (PSTs’) development of Critical Language Awareness for teaching through an online course focused on language variation. All of the twenty-four PSTs in our study identified as white and speakers of Standardized English. We rated the quality of the PSTs’ Critical Language Awareness for teaching through their contributions to weekly online discussions. We also qualitatively analyzed the PSTs’ discussions for themes and tensions in their understanding of teaching Critical Language Awareness. We found that the PSTs’ understanding and appreciation for dialect diversity and code-switching was strong, and most PSTs wanted to teach more critical aspects of language variation, such as how systems of privilege are reinforced through language ideologies. However, many PSTs avoided acknowledging their own white privilege and were less skilled and comfortable teaching about power structures than dialect diversity.