Gloria Park

“I Listened to Korean Society. I Always Heard that Women Should be this Way …”: The Negotiation and Construction of Gendered Identities in Claiming a Dominant Language and Race in the United States

Based on a year-long, qualitative study of five East Asian women, pre-service teachers enrolled in U.S. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teacher education programs, this article examines one Korean womans journey as she navigates through her multiple identities as a daughter, spouse, mother, and language teacher inside and outside of Korea and the United States. In narrative accounts audiotaped during in-depth interviews conducted over a period of seven months, Han Nah shared experiences that have been shaped by her gendered identities while also being transformed by these identities. Han Nahs identities are viewed as a site of struggle in multiple contexts: (1) Han Nah was influenced by how her parents positioned her as a traditional Korean woman in the larger Korean patriarchal society, which in turn impacted her own decisions navigating through both Korean and U.S. educational and professional contexts; and (2) Han Nahs “mothering” and “spousal” identities influenced and somewhat superseded her professional aspirations, which led Han Nah to claim her dominant language and race in the Western educational system. This article concludes with TESOL teacher education implications.

Situating the discourses of privilege and marginalization in the lives of two East Asian women teachers of English

Using a narrative approach (i.e., Clandinin and Connelly 2000; Dewey 1938 [1963]), this article explores the identity constructions and negotiations of two East Asian women teachers of English in MATESOL programs. The focus of this article explores the ways in which the two women’s privileged experiences coexisted with issues of marginalization once they entered English speaking contexts. The work of Kumashiro and Bourdieu provides the theoretical foundation for exploring the discourses of privilege and marginalization that are weaved into the lives of the EAWTCs. Using the women’s narrative accounts collected during 2004–2005 AY, the core of the analyses focuses exclusively on the different forms of marginalization these women negotiate in reconstructing their identity within English/Turkish as second language spaces (both study abroad and graduate programs) and the ways in which Bourdieu’s forms of capital play out in the intersection of privilege and marginalization. I conclude with discussions around these intersections focusing on: (1) two faces of college entrance examinations; (2) language and race; and (3) capital, habitus, and identity in the graduate programs.

The apprenticeship of observation in career contexts: a typology for the role of modeling in teachers’ career paths

This article extends the literature on teachers’ career paths by attending to the experiences of educators when they were students in secondary classrooms. Grounded in the perspective that biography is central to teaching, we investigate undergraduate pre-service teachers’ educational experiences, views on teaching and learning, and professional plans. We draw upon life history interviews with 40 prospective teachers at three institutions across Pennsylvania, USA. We find that past educational experiences are intricately connected with career choice, intended professional path, and pedagogical focus. This paper identifies and discusses three forms of modeling – disciplinary, mentoring, and empowering – which influence pre-service teachers in powerful and enduring ways. These forms of modeling expand our understanding of teachers’ career intentions and apply the apprenticeship of observation to planned career paths.

Being and Becoming a Teacher: How African American and White Preservice Teachers Envision Their Future Roles as Teacher Advocates

This article captures the life histories and professional futures of preservice teachers at three institutions of higher education. In this article, we focus on the experiences and expectations of 4 preservice teachers. We find that, although African American and White preservice teachers both see themselves as advocates for their students, they envision different approaches to advocacy and their agency along racial lines. African American preservice teachers envision advocacy as serving as role models for their future students, while White preservice teachers advocate for their students through their instructional actions in the classroom. This study complicates ideas of race, agency, and teacher advocacy.

Exploring the interplay of cultural capital, habitus, and field in the life histories of two West African teacher candidates

This paper captures the life histories of two West African pre-service teachers pursuing their education in the United States. Based on a larger study examining the life histories of 45 undergraduate pre-service teachers, these narratives focus specifically on international student experiences in the US. Grounded in Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, capital, and field, the life histories of Bakar and Selma illustrate how their capital and habitus become contingent on the field(s) (i.e. sites, time, and agents within a specific context) in which they are situated. The narratives of Bakar and Selma captured their early educational experiences, teacher preparation practices, and future possibilities as they moved in and out of different fields where the exchange of capital occurred, which then led to restructuring and/or de-valuerization of certain habitus. The experiences of Bakar and Selma heighten our awareness of the capital and habitus deployed in a variety of contexts – fields – in the US and elsewhere. We conclude by incorporating discussion focused on working with international teacher candidates.

Complementary and Contradictory Visions of Epistemic Justice in World Englishes Graduate Seminars: A Dialogue

This chapter begins with a dialog between two educators and their experiences teaching a World Englishes seminar in a Composition & TESOL graduate program. The dialog examines complementary and conflicting visions for how concepts in World Englishes can promote epistemic justice and social equity. The authors consider how their identities as a female “non-native” English speaker of color and a White, male, “native” English speaker impacted their beliefs, goals, and approaches to teaching a World Englishes course. In the second half of the chapter, the first author offers reflections on his efforts to facilitate direct engagement with linguistic and cultural difference and the ways that a sensory-based pedagogy might extend classical and contemporary depictions of language variation. The authors conclude by considering the relationship between “critical” and “sensory” practices in the classroom in light of larger epistemological, disciplinary, and institutional realities in twenty-first century academia.

Second language socialization and learner agency: Adoptive family talk, by Fogle, L. W.

Lyn Wright Fogle’s Second Language Socialization and Learner Agency: Adoptive Family Talk is a timely addition to the field of second language literacy in general and in the area of non-U.S. adopte...