Reducing Colonial Harm in Language Teaching: A Guide to Anti-racism and Critical Self-reflective Practices for Language Teachers
Abstract
The powerful undercurrents and rooted presence of coloniality continue to influence the field of English language teaching today (Kubota, 2016). Motha (2014) argues that our field in its historicity and embedded colonial lineage is inherently intertwined with notions of race and power. The language of the colonized is considered by the colonizers to be inferior to the colonial language “associated with the word and people of God, of territory and ownership” (Kalyanpur et al., forthcoming). This essay engages the reader in consciousness-raising practices that require deep introspection on our own positionality, intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989), and histories with the English language and suggests ways to transform the self and system that dismisses the linguistic and cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) of our students.