Pseudo-Translanguaging: Raciolinguistic Perspectives on White Supremacy in English Language Teaching in Asia

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 11:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Multilingual Education Around the Globe: Identity, Self-Efficacy, and Raciolinguistics in International Contexts

Abstract

This paper critically examines how white supremacy is perpetuated and recycled through English language teaching (ELT) practices in an Asian context. Drawing on raciolinguistic perspectives, co-researchers of Asian descent, who were part of a large-scale transnational grant, investigated the lived experiences of seven U.S. college graduates who taught English as a foreign language in Asia. Utilizing a qualitative case study design, data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observation reports, and researcher reflexivity journals. Through a counterstorytelling approach, the data analysis reveals how participants navigated pseudo-translanguaging environments shaped by racial microaggressions and white supremacy. The findings illuminate the racialized mechanisms by which ELT recycles white supremacy in transnational contexts and call for critical reexaminations of language ideologies in global second/foreign language education.

Authors

• Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, Webster University

• Yi-Ju Lai, University of Minnesota