1. Introduction

This chapter provides the background information on the bilingual education and language contact situation in Inner Mongolia, China. It also introduces the various issues related to the Mongolian ethnic minority group’s L3 teaching and the significance of English teachers' attitudes towards multilingual awareness and translingual teaching approaches. The chapter also outlines the objectives of the present study.

2. Literature Review

The literature review discusses the concept of multilingual awareness, metalinguistic awareness, and cross-linguistic awareness, as well as the role of teacher beliefs in fostering multilingual awareness. It also highlights the importance of teacher beliefs in integrating learners' previously acquired languages into target language teaching and the influence of these beliefs on students' linguistic behavior. The review emphasizes the scarcity of research on English teachers' beliefs about multilingual awareness in L3 learning in the Chinese EFL context and the need for the present study to bridge this gap.

3. Methodology

The chapter explains the research questions and methodology of the study. It discusses the questionnaire used, the participants, and the interviews conducted with English teachers. Additionally, it presents the results of the exploratory factor analysis to reduce the number of questionnaire items, which identified five main factors related to the English teachers’ beliefs about Mongolian students’ multilingual awareness in L3 learning.

4. Results and Discussion

This chapter discusses English teachers’ beliefs about Mongolian university students’ multilingual awareness in L3 learning, including code-switching, L1 maintenance, metalinguistic awareness, the use of previously learned languages, and the negative effects of frequent use of previously learned languages. It is found that there are significant differences between Mongolian and Han English teachers in their beliefs on these aspects. The chapter also analyzes discrepancies between teachers’ beliefs and practices due to social-cultural environment, school policy, family language policy, teacher identity, learning experience, and teaching materials.

5. Conclusions

The research found that both Han and Mongolian teachers of English are aware of the significant roles played by teachers’ and learners’ multilingual awareness in L3 teaching and learning. However, there are some belief differences between Han and Mongolian teachers of English. The study also revealed discrepancies between English teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices. Scholars have consistent beliefs on the facilitative aspects of multilingualism on the additional language learning and the improvements of individuals’ cognitive abilities. However, the research has limitations in the data collection methods and the questionnaire used, and it is suggested to integrate classroom observation and in-depth interviews into data collection methods.