This study investigated South Korean elementary school teachers’ perceptions of multilingualism and multilingual education, with particular attention to multilingual competence, migrant students’ languages, classroom practices, and teacher education. It further examined whether these perceptions differed based on teaching experience with multilingual learners and participation in multilingual-related coursework or professional development. Employing a quantitative design, survey responses from 125 in-service teachers were analyzed. Findings indicated favorable attitudes toward multilingualism. However, teachers’ perceptions regarding migrant students’ language use and classroom linguistic diversity were shaped by institutional norms and professional role expectations, revealing ambivalence and underlying ideological tensions. While participants strongly supported pedagogical integration of multilingualism, they simultaneously emphasized the primacy of Korean language and endorsed restrictions on the use of students’ heritage languages. These contradictions reflect persistent monolingual and native-speaker ideologies that frame linguistic diversity as secondary to dominant language norms. This study highlights an urgent need for comprehensive teacher education programs that can equip educators to support inclusive, rights-based, and linguistically responsive practices for increasingly diverse educational contexts.
