On Issues of Discrimination and Xenophobia: What Can<scp>TESOL</scp>Practitioners Do to Support and Advocate for Refugee Students?

Duran, Chatwara Suwannamai

doi:10.1002/tesq.523

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The course advocated for culturally and linguistically responsive approaches to teaching and better understanding the experiences of marginalized students. In an article that recently appeared in this journal, Duran (2019) proposed advocating for refugee students in particular through better understanding the refugee journey, promoting respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, and addressing racism and xenophobia in the classroom. Therefore, the first author believed it was valuable for his students to hear about the experiences, stories, and identities of refugee‐background families in the process of learning English as a second language—hence the invitation to the family to visit the classroom.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Learning English was an important goal for both Maria and Omar. In addition to learning a new language, refugee‐background individuals face various other challenges including xenophobic attitudes (Duran, 2019) and changes to one’s identity, values, and beliefs—the “search for a sense of self,” as McBrien (2005, p. 339) describes it. (Re)constructing an identity is a significant challenge for adolescent English learners (ELs) from refugee backgrounds (Karam, 2018; Karam, Kibler, Johnson, & Molloy Elreda, 2020) and is particularly accentuated in the case of Muslim students in the United States, who often experience discriminatory practices based on religion (Abu El‐Haj & Bonet, 2011).…”

Section: Artifactual Literacies and Authoring Identities Through Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Artifactual literacies (Pahl & Rowsell, 2010) bring these migrant stories and literacies to the forefront by examining how objects or artifacts (including texts) evoke experiences of the home country and carry within them layers of the authors’ identities. Given that TESOL professionals are at the forefront of encountering and advocating for refugee‐background students (Duran, 2019), it is important for TESOLers to better understand the interconnections between narratives of refuge/displacement and how identities are negotiated in resettlement contexts. This study examines these interconnections in the context of a refugee‐background family’s visit to a TESOL classroom at a public university in the western United States.…”

Section: Artifactual Literacies and Authoring Identities Through Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…TESOLers are “at the forefront of encountering refugee students in various settings, from teaching school‐age refugee learners to tutoring refugee adults in English as a second language (ESL) classes provided by local agencies and organizations” (Duran, 2019, p. 817). From such a position, and in order to be able to combat xenophobia and discriminatory practices, it is important that TESOL professionals develop a more nuanced understanding of refugee students and their experiences, promote respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, and address xenophobia in the classroom (Duran, 2019). We argue that the theory of artifactual literacies holds enormous promise in realizing these aspirations.…”

Section: Implications: Artifactual Literacies Refugee‐background Stud...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Artifactual Literacies and TESOL: Narratives of a Syrian Refugee‐Background Family

2020

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Theoretically framed in artifactual literacies, this study examined a refugee‐background family’s visit to a group of university students enrolled in a teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) methods class. One of the authors requested they give this presentation and collaborated with them in writing it. Participants included Maria and Omar, Syrian parents of three children who self‐identify as Muslim. Primary data included transcripts of the families’ collaborative composing with the first author and of the presentation itself, in addition to a multimodal PowerPoint. Secondary data included interviews with the family before and after the presentation. A narrative analysis of this data revealed that through stories (evoked by artifacts), the family presented themselves to the students as legitimate and sociable newcomers. They also presented themselves as appreciative yet ambivalent about U.S. customs and defiant of stereotypical representations of Islam. The authors argue that artifacts, imbued with border‐crossing memories and experiences, can empower refugee‐background students to construct counternarratives and negotiate identities that challenge xenophobic discourses and positionings. Further, because TESOL professionals are at the front lines of supporting refugee‐background students, it is important for TESOLers to be cognizant of the potential of artifacts in making migrant narratives visible.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Artifactual Literacies and Authoring Identities Through Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Artifactual Literacies and Authoring Identities Through Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications: Artifactual Literacies Refugee‐background Stud...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Artifactual Literacies and TESOL: Narratives of a Syrian Refugee‐Background Family

2020

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“…In addition, ESL teachers can face an increased emotional labor (Hochschild, 2018) due to student concerns unique to the language-minority student population. First, language-minority students who are refugees or immigrants may face discrimination and hate speech (Duran, 2019) or trauma (Schmidt, 2018), with ESL teachers being called to work toward dismantling this xenophobia and support students learning through trauma-informed teaching. Similarly, recent changes in regulations about immigration and refugee status in 2017, which limit immigration and refugee resettlement, create fear for non-native students and a need for teachers to work with students to address those fears (Petrie & Darrag, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining English Language Arts Teachers: Evidence from National Data

Nguyen

Northrop

2021

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background: Much of the previous research in teacher attrition and retention focuses on teachers in general, without regard to specific types of teachers. We focus on English language arts (ELA) and English as a second language (ESL) teachers because the United States has stubbornly low achievement in reading, and reading is critical to the success of learning other subjects, and because these are the two groups of teachers most responsible for teaching both native and non-native English speakers to read. Purpose: Our goal is to understand how the demographics and qualifications of ELA and ESL teachers have changed over time, changes in the student characteristics and school conditions in which they teach, their attrition rate, and the factors that are associated with their attrition behaviors. We also pay close attention to teachers in economically disadvantaged schools. Research Design: We use nationally representative data from seven waves of the Schools and Staffing Survey from 1987–1988 to 2011–2012, as well as the 2015–2016 National Teacher and Principal Survey to examine ELA and ESL teachers and their turnover behaviors. We employ sampling weights to make the results nationally representative. We use both descriptive and regression analyses to examine these teachers. Data Analysis: We first describe how characteristics of ELA and ESL teachers and the schools in which they teach have changed from 1988 to 2016. We then examine how these characteristics vary systematically across high- and low-poverty schools and compare the attrition rate for ELA and ESL teachers relative to other teachers. We also examine the factors that are associated with various forms of turnover and how organizational supports may be leveraged to increase retention. Findings: We find the composition of ELA and ESL teachers has changed substantially over time, with more teachers attending selective schools, being certified to teach, and more likely to teach in high-poverty schools. Relatedly, teacher characteristics in high- and low-poverty schools are consistently different across time, and school working conditions play an enhanced role in high-poverty schools rather than in more affluent schools. Conclusions: Although we find ELA teachers turn over at similar rates compared to non-ELA teachers, we find ESL teachers are more likely to leave both their current school and the profession. This is particularly concerning given that the ESL population is increasing while at the same time there is a shortage of trained-ESL teachers.

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Neo‐Nationalist Discourses and Teacher Identity Tensions in a Telecollaboration for Teachers of Minoritized Language Learners in Türkiye

et al. 2023

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In this paper, we focus on the situatedness of teacher identity and agency within sociopolitical contexts dominated by neo‐nationalist discourses and rely on data from online conversations among preservice and in‐service teachers of English in Türkiye and the United States (US). We report on data constructed in a telecollaboration (a.k.a., virtual intercultural exchange) that we, four TESOL teacher educators, designed for teachers to discuss issues of social justice (particularly for minoritized immigrant students) and to have a discursive and experiential space in which to negotiate their language teacher identities (LTI). Gathering 117 teachers from five universities (three in Türkiye, two in the US) and underserved school districts in both contexts, this telecollaboration is our pedagogical, agentive response to dominant neo‐nationalist discourses in the two countries. To make quantities of data more manageable, we analyze interactions from one‐third of those 117 participants (five of 15 small groups) to address this research question: How do preservice and in‐service teachers from Türkiye construct their teacher identities in response to neo‐nationalist discourses in their sociopolitical context? In particular, how do they engage in this identity work through asynchronous small‐group discussions in a social justice‐focused telecollaboration with teachers from the US? Findings indicate that participants from Türkiye discussed teacher agency, conservatism and cultural difference in the society, and discrimination/xenophobia against refugees as important factors that shape their work with minoritized English language learners. They experienced tensions in their identity construction between their desire to advocate for their students and the external forces coming from meso‐ and macro‐level policies that impact their instruction and assessment procedures. We discuss our findings in relation to previous research on language teacher identity and social justice in sociopolitical contexts shaped by neo‐nationalist discourses. We also share the implications of our study for pedagogizing identity in teacher education.

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On Issues of Discrimination and Xenophobia: What CanTESOLPractitioners Do to Support and Advocate for Refugee Students?

Cited by 8 publications

References 23 publications

Artifactual Literacies and TESOL: Narratives of a Syrian Refugee‐Background Family

Artifactual Literacies and TESOL: Narratives of a Syrian Refugee‐Background Family

Examining English Language Arts Teachers: Evidence from National Data

Neo‐Nationalist Discourses and Teacher Identity Tensions in a Telecollaboration for Teachers of Minoritized Language Learners in Türkiye

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