Document Type

Abstract

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

AAAL Portland 2023

Pages

167

Conference Name

AAAL Portland 2023, 18-21 March 2023, Portland, Oregon

Abstract

Intersectionality refers to multifaceted aspects of individuals' social identity positions (e.g., language, race, gender, and class) and how these identity positions intersect in the (re)production of relational and systemic power, privilege, and oppression (Collins, 2000; Collins & Bilge, 2016). Intersectionality foregrounds how individuals construct their social identity positions vis-á-vis broader sociocultural and political conditions. For this reason, intersectionality is vital for understanding how language teachers position themselves between their emergent bilingual students and the educational and social injustices that many of those students face at school (Author, 2020; Kayi-Aydar et al., 2018; Varghese et al., 2016). When do language teachers act as advocates for their emergent bilingual students? Do the intersectional identity positions of language teachers play a role? Despite a surge of research interest in language teacher identity over the past decades, limited attention has been paid to the intersectional identity positions of language teachers and how language teachers' intersectional identity positions shape their perceptions and practices of advocacy for emergent bilinguals. The purpose of this study is to explore how in-service ESL teachers understand, practice, and (re)imagine their identity as advocates for emergent bilinguals through their intersectional identity positions. Data presented in this study (i.e., interviews and fieldnotes) were collected over one academic year in elementary-ESL classrooms during a period of shifting language policy in Massachusetts. The findings indicate that language teachers negotiated their intersectional identity positions with stakeholders in ways that ratify, appropriate, or disrupt dominant and oppressive discourses around advocating for emergent bilinguals. This study argues for an explicit focus on the intersectionality of language teacher identity to situate and facilitate their advocacy work for emergent bilinguals. Further research is warranted to forefront the intersectionality of language teacher identity, as a theory and methodology, in current language teacher identity scholarship and language teacher education programs.

Rights

© 2023 American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL). All rights reserved.

Included with the kind written permission of the copyright holder and the author.

Comments

Link to publisher landing page: AAAL 2023 Conference

ORCID

0000-0001-5733-435X (Maddamsetti)

Original Publication Citation

Maddamsetti, J. (2023). Language teachers' intersectional identity positions and advocacy for emergent bilinguals [Abstract]. AAAL Portland 2023, Portland, Oregon.

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