Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics

Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics

From Speaking English to Mediating Participation: A Pre-service Teacher’s Autoethnography in the Brazilian Amazon

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Rita de Cássia Pedroso Maranhão
Nilton Hitotuzi
Institute of Educational Sciences at the Federal University of Western Pará (Ufopa), Santarém, Brazil
10.22055/rals.2026.52701.3884
Abstract
For pre-service teachers, teaching predominantly through the target language can expose questions of vulnerability, legitimacy, and professional identity. This analytic autoethnography asks how an eleven-month university extension project in Santarém, in the Brazilian Amazon, reshaped one pre-service English teacher’s pedagogical judgement and professional identity. Extending the first author’s undergraduate monograph with a new research question and analytic framework, it reanalyses 69 reflective diary entries, a retrospective self-questionnaire, and pedagogical artefacts through a chronological critical-incident matrix. The analysis traces three movements: from linguistic performance to pedagogical responsibility, from method application to responsive mediation, and from classroom control to distributed pedagogical agency. Responsive mediation, extended here from teacher education to the teacher’s own classroom adjustments, helps explain how pre-service teachers develop situated pedagogical judgement. The findings suggest that sustained, supervised placements, reflective writing, and locally grounded materials may help pre-service teachers in under-represented EFL settings turn target-language pressure into pedagogical judgement.
Keywords
Language Teacher Identity
Pre-Service Teacher Education
Autoethnography
Target-Language Teaching
Responsive Mediation
Brazilian Amazon.
Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 November 2026