Interrogating Colonial/Postcolonial Educational Approaches in Working With Students Who Use English as Their Second Language

• In Event: Language Identity, Interpretation, and Postcolonial Approaches to Language Teaching

Abstract

We recognize that students are socioculturally positioned; there is this narrative where students are perceived as the other - linguistically, culturally, or racially. In questioning the colonial and postcolonial basis for this othering, we want to switch the focus from the second language students and their otherness, and instead look at them as students qua students. The authors call this a ‘pra-‘perspective on colonialism. Even though we no longer call international students the colonised or oppressed, we do refer to them as ESL/TESOL students, second- language learners, etc. These students find these characterisations as essentialist and demeaning. The intersections of transformative leadership and identity enable us to ask questions such as, ‘How are student identities negotiated with educational leaders?’

Authors

• Michele Schmidt, Simon Fraser University
  Presenting Author

• Kristina Berynets, City University of Seattle
  Presenting Author

• Charles F. Scott, Simon Fraser University
  Presenting Author