FINDING FOOTHOLDS IN A CONSTRUCTION ZONE: NAVIGATING THE DISCOURSES OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS WITH PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY Cori McKenzie, Michael Macaluso and Kati Macaluso ABSTRACT The varying traditions, goals, paradigms, and discourses associated with English language arts (ELA) underscore the degree to which there is not one school subject English, but many “Englishes.” In a neoliberal con- text, where movements like standardization and accountability stake claims about what ELA should be and do in the world, teachers, espe- cially beginning teachers, can struggle to navigate the tensions engen- dered by these many and contradictory “Englishes.” This chapter attends to this struggle and delineates a process by which English Educators might illustrate the field’s vast and ever-changing terrain and support Innovations in English Language Arts Teacher Education Advances in Research on Teaching, Volume 27, 5À26 Copyright r 2017 by Emerald Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-3687/doi:10.1108/S1479-368720170000027001 5