Teaching Multilingual Learners in Rural Communities: How a Teacher Negotiates the Ethico-Politics of Teacher Identity

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Highlighting the Strengths of Multilingual Teachers and Learners (Table 29)

Abstract

Immigration, economic, and demographic changes have brought about rich cultural and linguistic diversity in rural communities. However, teaching multilingual learners in rural communities remains an under-researched area. Drawing from a Foucauldian perspective on ethics and teacher identity, this qualitative case study presents data from narrative interviews with one rural teacher and ethnographic observations in the rural school. Findings reveal that the teacher engaged in culturally sustaining practices for multilingual learners, defied established educational policies and prescribed community norms to advocate for multilingual students and families, and achieved ethical self-formation to meet the telos, or end goals, of her teacher identity.

Authors

• Shuzhan Li, Ithaca College

• Lei Jiang, University of Kansas

• Wenyang Sun, University of Utah

• Feifei Fan, University of Florida