Self-Study to Help Teachers Engage in Diversity

Abstract

When I began graduate school, I had no idea I was going to become a teacher educator. After a number of years teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), I started my Ph.D. studies in theoretical linguistics, hoping to focus on historical or sociolinguistics and, one day, become a professor and share my love of the study of language in an academic community. However, as much as I enjoy theory, I have always tended toward the applied aspects of linguistics, trying to be practical with knowledge production. During my coursework, I followed a path that focused on language and its integration into varying fields, taking courses and working on projects in second language studies (education), language acquisition (psychology), language policy (sociology), and sociolinguistics (anthropology). When applying for jobs after completing my doctoral studies, I considered all positions that had language as a focus, and many were in the field of language education, specifically ESL. Entering academic life with the idea that I would be able to positively affect the teaching of ESL – and thus the successful learning of ESL – made me feel that I would put my work to good use. However, what I soon discovered is that I had never been fully prepared in the pedagogy of teacher education. This chapter details how I came to join the self-study group and incorporated the methodology into my work around issues of diversity, as well as what I have found to be its strengths and limitations.