While the importance of linguistically responsive teaching (LRT) in multilingual classrooms is well documented, preservice English teachers' conceptions of LRT and the pertinent sociocultural processes that shape their LRT conceptions and practices remain under-researched. Qualitatively examining the experiences and understandings of 15 preservice English teachers in Hong Kong shared in interviews and written reflections, this study reveals a positive attitude towards LRT in general, but a dissonance between LRT consciousness and LRT knowledge/skills. The study also identifies three distinct profiles of LRT teachers (Explorers, Activists, and Initiators) as well as a range of enabling and debilitating factors in understanding and implementing LRT. These findings call for attention to a need for revisiting mainstream English language teacher education trends and embracing more socio-politically informed linguistically responsive approaches. Copyright © 2024 Taylor and Francis Ltd.

This essay emerges from an ongoing conversation between us while collaborating on various projects that have explored the role that English plays in people's lives. One of us is an English teacher educator from Australia, the other an EFL educator from Iran now working in Hong Kong. Our conversation prompted us to reflect on English as a medium of communication between us that has enabled us to transcend the division between so-called native speakers and those who speak English as an additional language, without denying the differences between us. To take our conversation further, we set each other the task of writing an autobiographical vignette to inquire into how the English language has variously shaped our sense of self and our relationships with others. We thereby attempt to re-envision English as a relational and historically situated phenomenon in order to think again about our common project as English language educators. Copyright © 2023 Taylor & Francis.