Mixed-heritage individuals (MHIs) are known to face high levels of social exclusion. Here, we investigate how raciolinguistic ideologies related to one's heritage language abilities add to these exclusionary experiences. The results from 293 MHIs reveal frequent experiences of marginalization from members of each of their heritage communities because their racial appearance and language practices are perceived as deviant and outside imagined 'monoracial' norms. Specifically, over half of respondents described experiences of exclusion for not speaking their minority heritage languages with the same accent or manner or fluency associated with 'monoracial' native speakers of their heritage languages or dialects. Another subset described high pressure to speak 'proper English' in White dominant work environments. These results extend past MHI work by empirically documenting the 'monoracial-only', monoglossic, and 'Standard English' ideologies that contribute to the continued social exclusion of MHIs.

Poststructuralist research in language and identity demonstrate how individuals exert agency to enact alternative identities, reshape power structures, and gain access to resources (e.g., Darvin & Norton, 2015). However, this approach to agency carries immense risk for minoritized individuals, who must regularly negotiate their identities under systemic racism and linguistic discrimination. We focus on mixed-heritage individuals (MHIs), who are regularly questioned or denied their ethnoracial identities through everyday microaggressions (Nadal et al., 2011) and examine 293 MHIs' responses to open-ended survey questions, describing the strategies they use and risks experienced during negotiation of identity. Findings reveal MHIs use explanations, cultural capital, and linguistic styling to express ethnoracial identities; however, experiences of denial, objectification, racial imposter syndrome, and anxiety lead many to assess which situations are safe to enact their identities and which are not. Consequently, we discuss the importance of recognizing systemic risk during negotiation of identity for racialized individuals.

With the goal of contributing to ongoing efforts to decolonize ELT, this article addresses the potential of microanalytic research into classroom interaction in disrupting hegemonic forces of coloniality. Microanalytic research provides a step-by-step, minute examination of interactional discourse, and it has the capacity to reveal gaps between official policies/participants’ beliefs and actual communication practices. To set the scene, we begin the article with a sketch of our experience in Japan and a review of previous studies reporting on teachers’ struggles and responses in confronting coloniality in the ELT classroom. We then turn to microanalytic research to show how this strand of work may complement ongoing efforts towards decolonizing ELT by foregrounding participants’ resourcefulness and agency in rewriting existing norms and structures. In closing, we consider future directions for decolonizing ELT classroom interaction research and pedagogy, emphasizing the affordances of microanalytic insights for pedagogical reflection and practice.

Mixed-heritage individuals (MHIs) are known to face high levels of social exclusion. Here, we investigate how raciolinguistic ideologies related to one’s heritage language abilities add to these exclusionary experiences. The results from 293 MHIs reveal frequent experiences of marginalization from members of each of their heritage communities because their racial appearance and language practices are perceived as deviant and outside imagined ‘monoracial’ norms. Specifically, over half of respondents described experiences of exclusion for not speaking their minority heritage languages with the same accent or manner or fluency associated with ‘monoracial’ native speakers of their heritage languages or dialects. Another subset described high pressure to speak ‘proper English’ in White dominant work environments. These results extend past MHI work by empirically documenting the ‘monoracial-only’, monoglossic, and ‘Standard English’ ideologies that contribute to the continued social exclusion of MHIs.