Interrogating Linguicism in Teacher Education: A Critical Autoethnography of a Bilingual Teacher Educator

• In Event: Faculty of Color Counternarratives, Lessons, and Disruptions: Examining Truth, Praxis, and Erasure in Teacher Education

Abstract

This presentation illuminates through autoethnography how I experienced emotional and cognitive dissonance in my professional trajectory as a bilingual teacher educator at a predominantly white institution (PWI). By unpacking the dominant discourse, such as native speakerism (Holliday, 2015), this talk aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the lived experience of a “non-native English speaking teacher” Kumaravadivelu, 2016) that legitimizes the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of bilingual teacher educators in US teacher education programs. Despite the current multilingual shift that has led to the emergences of theoretical and pedagogical perspectives (Flores & Aneja, 2017; May, 2014), such as translanguaging (García & Li, 2014; Li, 2018) and translingual practices (Canagarajah, 2013), the lived experiences of bilingual teacher educators in the English-dominant teacher education context in the United States have not been closely examined in the literature. Linguicism refers to “ideologies, structures, and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, regulate, and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and immaterial) between groups which are defined on the basis of language” (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1988, p. 13). This linguistic discrimination, profoundly coupled with racism, is prevailing in U.S. higher education. Phillipson (1992, 2009) termed this phenomenon as ‘linguistic imperialism’ in which English has been imposed as the primary language of communication, including the dissemination of knowledge in academia. Thus, language must be a focus of investigation in the discussion of racism as linguicism and racism are inherently intertwined (Kubota & Lin, 2006).

I use autoethnography with a critical event focus (Webster & Mertova, 2007) to address linguicism in the U.S. higher education context. Autoethnography as a research method can shed light on the intersection of language, race, and gender. In particular, critical autoethnography aims to make unheard voices heard and invisible faces visible by revealing the lived experiences of the minoritized people from their own perspectives (Boylorn & Orbe, 2017; Marx et al., 2017). The primary data source for this presentation is the reflective journals that I have recorded throughout my academic journey as a bilingual teacher educator in the US. This presentation illustrates my experience within ideological discourses that attempt to frame “linguistically qualified” against the intersectionality of race, gender, and country of origin. It particularly elucidates the dissonance I have experienced in navigating the academy that imposes the English-only policy on faculty and students at PWI. It also highlights the triumph of my professional endeavors as a bilingual teacher educator who advocates for culturally and linguistically minoritized students.
Systematic racism has been intensively discussed in the US, but linguicism has not been the focus of such discussion. Linguicism is so entrenched that pedagogical changes alone will not challenge the linguistic hierarchies among members of U.S. higher education. By providing a space for faculty to critically reflect on their language learning practices and identities that challenge the universalizing rhetoric of linguicism, faculty can interrogate the monolingual bias and reconceptualize curriculum and instruction in teacher education.

Author

• Hyesun Cho, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author