English’s current status as the world’s lingua franca has raised questions about language learning, language teaching, the education of teachers of English, and the practices of teacher educators who prepare those teachers. While it has been recognized that we know little about the ways in which teacher educators in all disciplinary areas are prepared and go about their work, these insights seem particularly lacking in the literature about teacher educators who prepare teachers of students learning English, or what we characterize here as English language teaching (ELT). In this review, we examine 30 peer-reviewed articles that met our search criteria from the two major disciplinary strands that contribute to ELT scholarship: applied linguistics and education. Included are 14 articles that specifically identify as self-studies, and 16 articles that share common methodological commitments with self-study, but do not explicitly identify as self-studies. Two major themes emerged from our search: a focus on the professional (e.g., teacher, teacher educator, scholar, language learner) and social identities (e.g., race, gender, parent, transnational, immigrant, bi/multilingual, monolingual) of teacher educators working in ELT, as well as the locus of their work (e.g., coursework, practicum, coaching, mentoring), highlighting the deeply situated nature of the work of ELT professionals. Our review illustrates that lack of interaction between the literature in applied linguistics and education has limited the uptake and use of self-study methodology in ELT scholarship. We argue that scholarship that engages in various forms of self-inquiry in ELT would benefit from rigorous use of self-study methodology.
