“Because we bilingual”: Examining an early career ESOL teacher's humanizing approach to language use

Abstract

Although some of the scholarship in applied linguistics and teacher education illustrates an understanding of the complicated domination of English—and particularly White Mainstream English (WME)—in the education of multilingual students who are learning English as an additional language, the issue remains that the teaching and learning of English is often positioned as a neutral, value-free endeavor in much of the curriculum and practice used in US K-12 classrooms, and around the world. Therefore, an important question centers around how teachers might use linguistically sustaining, humanizing language practices in their classrooms, despite working in contexts that generally privilege WME. To illustrate the important role that teachers can play in supporting humanizing, linguistically vibrant classrooms, we highlight the practices of Catherine, an African American teacher of multilingual students, and explore how she leveraged her own multilingualism to affirm a variety of language practices in her classroom.