Negotiating Language, Race, and Identity: Action Research with Pre-Service ESL Teachers’ Critical Practice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Raciolinguistics and Intersectionality in Language Education

Abstract

This study examines how pre-service teachers (PSTs) in Quebec, Canada, develop their English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher identities and engage with critical pedagogies, including translanguaging and plurilingualism. Situated in a sociopolitical context shaped by colonial legacies and entrenched English-French language divisions, the study draws on two action research cycles in an undergraduate ESL course. Grounded in raciolinguistics and translanguaging theory, we analyze how PSTs negotiated linguistic and racial identities and pedagogical intentions. Data from creative assignments, reflections, and interviews reveal tensions between critical aspirations and the enduring dominance of Standard English and whiteness in ESL education. Findings underscore the potential of critical, arts-based, and identity-affirming approaches to disrupt linguistic hierarchies and foster socially just, inclusive language teacher education.

Authors

• Jennifer L. Burton, Concordia University

• Aya Ceilidh Halliday, Concordia University - Montreal