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A Disability Critical Race Theory Solidarity Approach to Transform Pedagogy and Classroom Culture in TESOL
Author(s) -
Migliarini Valentina,
Stinson Chelsea
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
tesol quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.737
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1545-7249
pISSN - 0039-8322
DOI - 10.1002/tesq.3028
Subject(s) - solidarity , sociology , pedagogy , ableism , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , critical race theory , multilingualism , racism , critical pedagogy , gender studies , social science , political science , politics , law
Until very recently, ability and whiteness as relational systems have been uninterrogated by TESOL research, policy, practice, and teacher education. Consequently, monolingual teachers often use students’ proximity to whiteness and nondisabled status as a metric for ascertaining their ability or belonging in certain language learning spaces. Similarly, English language teachers’ uncritical and unsupported engagement with policy and professional learning around race and whiteness contributes to the unwarranted subjection of multilingual students to the special education referral process. In this contribution, we aim to analyze the nuances of ableism and racism in the field of TESOL, and offer TESOL educators practical examples to dismantle it. Drawing from the critical intersectional framework of DisCrit, this contribution presents two DisCrit solidarity‐oriented practical examples for the language classroom: cultural reciprocity and translanguaging. We argue that these support TESOL educators in understanding the relationship between whiteness and ability, as well as valuing the importance of multilingualism in school settings.