Language (in)competency, communication strategies, and the development of an international academic teacher identity: becoming an audible minority

Abstract

ABSTRACTDespite universities’ enthusiasm for internationalization, international academic mobility requires considerable institutional and cultural adjustment in terms of teaching and supervision styles, research expectations, and departmental relationships. Although language competency underpins these practices, research on international academics has neglected the impact of language proficiency on professional identity. This article uses autoethnography to document conversations about language ability during my first two years as an academic in a French-language university. My responses to language-related comments evolved over time, reflecting how I positioned myself as a linguistic – or audible – minority, vis-à-vis the linguistic majority. Using cultural phenomenology, the findings highlight the interactional, unstable nature of international academic identities and the importance of positive collective support for international academics who shift from majority to minority linguistic status.