Speakerhood as segregation: The construction and consequence of divisive discourse in tesol

Abstract

This chapter revisits the issue of status drawn from categorization as either a native-speaker teacher of English or as a non-native-speaker teacher of English in TESOL. It remains that despite various discussions being heard (see Aneja GA, TESOL Q 50: 572–596, 2016a; Aneja GA, Crit Inq Lang Stud 13: 351–379, 2016b; Aslan E, Thompson AS, TESOL J 8: 277–294, 2016; Cook V, TESOL Q 50: 186–189, 2016; Ellis E, TESOL Q 50: 597–631, 2016; Faez F, J Lang, Identity Edu 10: 231–249, 2011; Swan A, Aboshiha P, Holliday A (eds), (En)countering native-speakerism: global perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, 2015), nothing seems to change. Language teachers, researchers and academics appear content performing discursive routines which produce outcomes so predictable it is as if those discussions never actually took place (see Kandiah T, Epiphanies of the deathless native user’s manifold avatars: a post-colonial perspective on the native speaker. In: Singh R (ed) The native speaker: multilingual perspectives. Sage, New Delhi, pp 79–110, 1998). Our profession persists in orienting itself toward upholding the division of teaching professionals primarily upon status criteria derived from the idea of the native speaker as the authentic language user and proprietor (see Houghton, Rivers and Hashimoto 2018). Discontent with the current situation, the circular discourse it encourages and the endless stimulation of guilt and shame it provokes, this chapter outlines how individuals on both sides of the fracture attain status privilege and suffer status marginalization through the strategic positioning of their fabricated counterpart. It suggests that the dynamics responsible follow a pendulum-like motion whereby for one group to attain a higher status (privilege) the other group must, as a consequence, be portrayed in a manner that inflicts upon them a lower status (marginalization).