English and global citizenship education: A critical examination of multilingual classrooms in the global south

Abstract This study critically examines the intersection of English language teaching (ELT) and global citizenship education (GCE) in higher education (HE) through data from state-funded universities in the Global South (Colombia, Iraq, Thailand, and Vietnam). It examines how students, educators, and administrators perceive and engage with global and intercultural citizenship through the medium of English. Data were collected through 126 semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic and content analysis to identify cross-contextual patterns and context-specific interpretations. Participants described a two-fold experience in which English facilitated global academic, professional, and personal access and mobility, while generating concerns about the erasure of local identities and knowledge systems, framed by enduring forms of epistemic inequality, cultural hierarchy, and instrumental pressures reinforced by neoliberal frameworks. In response, many educators and learners challenged dominant Anglophone models by adopting decolonial pedagogies that emphasise ethical engagement, foster critical reflexivity, and reflect locally rooted practices. The study calls for reconfiguring GCE and ELT as interconnected domains of transformation that support inclusive, context-responsive, and socially engaged models of global citizenship within Southern HE settings.