Navigating Identity: The Unexplored Narrative of a White “Nonnative” Teacher of English as an Additional Language in Canada

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Language Teachers' Experiences in International and Heritage Contexts (Table 31)

Abstract

While there is a major body of research exploring the experiences of “non-native” English speaking teachers (NNESTs) in English as an additional language education contexts elsewhere, little research is situated in Canada. Few existing studies generally focus on racialized NNESTs, while the experiences of White NNESTs remain largely unknown. As such, this presentation focuses on the narrative of a White female NNEST working in an anglophone province of Canada, whose data was excerpted from a broader qualitative study. Drawing upon notions of power, legitimacy, and linguistic capital, as well as language ideology and intersectionality, the presentation illustrates that while White NNESTs may not face some of the challenges commonly attributed to racialized NNESTs, they similarly struggle with issues of “illegitimacy”.

Author

• Olessya Akimenko, Simon Fraser University