"Why Did the Teacher Discuss Gender Discrimination?" Language Teacher Identity and Agency for Social Justice

• In Event: Critical Approaches to Language and Literacy in Teaching and Teacher Education

Abstract

In Chile, English has been adopted as a form of linguistic entrepreneurship that provides enhanced individual advantage in the job market. Scholars in language education emphasize the need for the inclusion of critical questions regarding social, political, and economic power relations that maintain different forms of inequality (see Norton & Toohey, 2004). In this study, I explore (1) the experiences that informed a Chilean teacher’s identity development and her goal to incorporate social-justice oriented practices and emancipatory approaches into the classroom, and (2) agency achievement. Findings reveal teacher’s efforts to challenge English classroom’ boarders to address social issues and commitment to relearn her practice. This work closes with a discussion about the importance of identity formation for social justice-oriented work.

Author

• Romina Stephanie Pena-Pincheira, Michigan State University