That's Not How You Treat Other Clubs: LGBTQ World Language Teachers and Heteronormative Schools

• In Event: 63.084 - MTCC Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-13 - Queer in K–12 Schools: School Change and LGBTQ Narratives

Abstract

LGBTQ students and teachers identities are often rendered invisible in schools due to dominant discourses that structure what identities are permissible in school spaces. Heteronormativity, which makes heterosexuality appear normal and natural, is prevalent in school environments. To understand how LGBTQ world language (WL) teachers construct their identities in relation to school, this paper employs Bucholtz & Hall’s (2004) tactics of intersubjectivity with Goffman’s (1981) conceptions of footing and framing to examine interviews with three LGBTQ WL teachers. Findings reveal that WL educators’ heteronormative schools often delegitimize their identities, privileging those that align with the norm.

Author

• James Coda, University of Georgia - Athens