Language Teacher Identity

“Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer and Vander Tavares have put together timely a volume on language teacher identity at the interface of ideology, policy and practice. The studies, from diverse cultural and educational contexts, challenge assumptions about race, accent and ethnicity in language education. Together they make an invaluable contribution to scholarship and professional development.”
—Li Wei, Director and Dean, UCL Institute of Education

“This volume is ground-breaking. Its focus on teachers of two or more languages and racialised language teachers is bold. Its decolonial theoretical compass is timely. A powerful contribution to the language teacher identity literature!”
—Lourdes Ortega, Professor of Linguistics, Georgetown University.

“This exciting volume asks deep questions about language teacher identity focusing on teachers of two or more languages and racialised language teachers in diverse contexts. Melo-Pfeifer and Tavares have done an amazing job in interrogating the dominant linguistic ideologies of race, ethnicity and language in language teacher education.”
—Xuesong (Andy) Gao, UNSW Australia

Language Teacher Identity examines how ideologies of race, ethnicity, accent, and immigration status impact perceptions of racialised and plurilingual teachers of two or more languages. This indispensable work is the first to systematically consider the impact of these issues on language teacher identity in a single volume.

Drawing from the experiences of teachers from around the world, the authors employ a range of methodological and theoretical approaches to gain invaluable insights on responding to the assumptions, biases, and prejudices that students may unknowingly bring into the classroom. In-depth chapters offer fresh perspectives on issues related to native-speakerism, monolingualism, racism, competence, authenticity, legitimacy, identity construction, and more.

Covering the teaching of a variety of languages, including English, French, Japanese, Norwegian, and Portuguese, Language Teacher Identity: Confronting Ideologies of Language, Race, and Ethnicity is essential reading for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students of applied linguistics, language education, and TESOL, as well as practicing language educators and researchers.