Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis to Unpack the Power Relationships Underpinning Deficit Views in the Segregation of International Teachers' Role-Making and Role-Taking

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding the Experiences of Preservice Teachers (Table 9)

Abstract

The group of International Teacher Candidates (ITC) and International Teachers (IT) has been growing for decades in the U.S., alongside an increase in the number of international students in schools. However, our understanding of this group remains outdated, as we continue to use simplified and homogeneous labels to describe such a diverse group--such as language barriers, cultural mismatches, hardworking but resistant networks, and more. In this study, I adopted the concepts of the Deficit Thinking Model (Valencia, 1989) and Role Theory (Turner, 1962) to identify deficit themes that have appeared in the existing literature on ITCs and ITs since 2000. Critical discourse analysis is used to unpack the power relationships underpinning these deficit views.

Author

• Moyu Zhang, New York University