Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers’ Legitimacy Negotiation in North American ELT Classrooms

The purpose of this paper is to examine the complexities of non-native English-speaking teachers’ (NNESTs’) legitimacy negotiation process in North American English language teaching (ELT) classrooms. This paper explores how NNESTs’ processes and outcomes of legitimacy negotiation can be impacted by unbalanced power relations, assigned-identity, and human agency. By drawing on various sociocultural theories, particularly power relations (Bourdieu, 1977; Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain 2001; Norton, 2000), identity (Norton, 2000; Harklau, 2000; Morita, 2004), and human agency (Canagarajah, 1999; Norton & Toohey, 2001; Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001), the analysis examines how the three factors—unbalanced power relations, assigned identity and personal agency manifest themselves in NNESTs’ attempting to cross barriers erected by language, culture, and racial boundaries.