English Learner Teachers of Color: Decolonizing Shifts in Teacher Preparation Through Study Abroad

• In Event: 15.026 - Division K Poster Session A

Abstract

Previous research (Author 1, 2017) recognizes the impact of study abroad programs on ELL teachers’ identities. After attending a 2017 study abroad program at a Freirian language school in Mexico, two in-service teachers of color/co-authors demonstrate shifting perspectives towards decolonizing their own teaching identities in multicultural classrooms in the greater Atlanta area. Their testimonies are viewed through the lenses of an immigrant Vietnamese teacher who wants to reconceptualize the “American dream” to teach underprivileged refugee students, and of an African-American teacher who reconsiders her “ways of knowing” (Author 1, 2016) to teach marginalized transnational students. We then conclude by connecting the overarching themes to contribute to decolonizing teachers’ identities and toward the creation of a future decolonial world.

Authors

• G. Sue Kasun, Georgia State University

• Ethan Tinh Trinh, Georgia State University

• Brittney Caldwell, Georgia State University