Unveiling the Hidden Strengths: Working as a Multilingual and Multicultural Teacher in a U.S. School

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

Abstract

Despite increasing diversity of students in U.S. classrooms, teacher diversity still lags behind. In this environment, multilingual teachers working in U.S. schools have been viewed as deficient. Research has highlighted the strengths of multilingual teachers, but, few studies have focused on their experiences in schools with predominantly White monolingual teachers. To fill this gap, this paper shares insights from a multilingual teacher working in a high school in the U.S. Drawing on interactional sociolinguistics and multimodality, the analysis of data reveals that the teacher's multilingual background created a third space that enhanced learning and agency for students and positively impacted identity construction. However, social contexts outside the classroom still present obstacles that need to be addressed through future research.

Author

• Seon Ja Chang, University of Georgia