Language as Power in the Language Teacher Education Ecosystem (Elements in Language and Power)

This Element aims to examine how language operates as power across the ecosystem of language teacher education (LTE).It maps how language-as-power (LaP) works at three layers: microsystem (teachers and classrooms), mesosystem (institutions), and macrosystem (socio-politics).Chapter 1 surveys LaP historically, tracing its historical evolution from Plato to contemporary theorists and showing how these ideas shape LTE.Building on this history, Chapters 2-4 unpack LaP across ecological layers: microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem.Chapter 5 looks forward, analyzing AI's redistribution and intensification of power at each scale, and applying a 3Ps (possible, probable, preferable) futurology to chart equitable pathways.Anchored in experiences from the Global South, the Element argues that LaP in LTE needs awareness and action.It offers ideas on how to address these issues in LTE by solutions such as widening epistemic access, contesting monolingual norms, and institutionalizing dialogic,