Debunking student teachers' beliefs regarding the target-language-only rule

Despite the recognized usefulness of crosslinguistic interaction, additional language (LN) teachers seem to be resistant to opening this Pandora's box to more multilingual classroom practice. While the ultimate goal of the broader research project is to promote student teachers' reflective stance concerning the potential benefits of crosslinguistic pedagogy, this study examines their beliefs regarding the TL-only rule established in their respective programs. Forty student teachers from Quebec and Mexico completed a vignette-based questionnaire where they were asked to reflect on different situations focused on the use of other languages, including L1. Results suggest that while a monolingual bias is prevalent in the Quebec context, participants from Mexico appear to be more open to resorting to other languages in the classroom. However, responses from both populations suggest that this perceived usefulness is restricted to situations where L1 is used as a vehicle rather than a resource. Suggestions for addressing these issues in teacher education are explored and avenues for further research are provided.