Navigating linguistic and cultural identities

Abstract

It has become an integral part of language teacher education to engage teacher candidates in examining their own social and linguistic identities and dispositions and reflecting on how differences in power may lead them to rationalize inequalities and make assumptions about the sociopolitical dimensions of language use, particularly in regards to the identities of native and non-native English speakers. Such exploration of identities requires both deliberate guidance and thoughtful reflection. For these reasons, this chapter discusses activity that educates preservice teachers about English varieties and engages them in (re)examining their own perspectives and positionality while considering intersection of social (e.g. ethnicity, race, social class) and relational identities (e.g. student, teacher, peer) and language use. The activity contributes to transformative approaches that foster critical awareness of the complexity of sociolinguistic realities in preservice teacher education practices.