The Asian American teaching method? An overview of language education, social justice issues, and challenging ‘Oppressed’ versus ‘Model’ minority binary discourse

Abstract

Abstract Amidst the backdrop of anti-Asian violence and the COVID-19 pandemic, this article addresses key social justice issues and praxes in language education with Asian American populations, especially with regards to pedagogy and K–12 schooling contexts. The article’s structure utilises four main sections, with the first section presenting key demographics and typology on who is considered ‘Asian American’ in the US schooling system. The second section provides an overview of major historical developments in language education with Asian American students, teachers, and researchers, over a time period spanning the past 50 years. The third section addresses the falsely essentialised binary of being an ‘Oppressed Minority’ versus a ‘Model Minority’ which Asian Americans often have to contend with, and effects of that binary in schooling. The fourth section presents some promising approaches to improving research methodology and classroom pedagogy with Asian American students, teachers, and families. Ultimately this papers seeks to make a contribution, along with the other papers in this special issue, towards more equitable research, policy and practice concerning communities of Asian heritage in North America.