Going against the grain: The classroom underlife in an English language programme in Myanmar (Burma)

Abstract

This paper describes the classroom underlife found in an English language programme in Myanmar (Burma) – an under-investigated peripheral ELT (English language teaching) context. Taking a comparative ethnographic approach, it analyses how the same cohort of students behave in two English language courses taught by two teachers: one from the local non-western context and the other from the western context. The findings indicate that seemingly collaborative behaviour can mask sites of resistance and ideological struggles. The study also shows that students exploit a variety of rich-meaning making practices to give emotional, intellectual and social support to each other against the monotony of class activities and against the unequal power-relationship imposed by the IRF (Initiation-Response-Feedback) routine usually found in language classes. The study extends the notion of classroom underlife to include sites of resistance not only between but also within agents. The study shows that both teachers and students participate in oppositional or resistant behaviour against official, prescribed norms as well as against their previous norms. It also highlights the importance of understanding how students in a peripheral ELT context make secondary adjustments when what is being imported is not just language teaching materials but also teachers from a western context.