An English Teacher Struggle to Establish Voice in the Periphery

  • Nugrahenny T. Zacharias English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Diponogoro 52-60, Salatiga, 50711
Keywords: non-native teachers, identity fastening, teachers in the periphery, critical consciousness

Abstract

This paper explores my identity formation and the struggle to establish voice as a non-native teacher working in the periphery. While publication on non-native speakers’ struggle into academia has been growing in the West, such publication is rare in the periphery where I have been working as an English language teacher for the last seven years. My personal reflection has shown that similar to their non-native colleagues working in the Center, non-native teachers also experienced marginalization that have fostered a perception that their nono-nativeness is a drawback. This leads to an identity of the non-native teacher s into a producer of errors and second-rate citizens despite years of learning English. From this personal narrative, I learned that it is crucial for teacher education programs to address issues of native/non-natives as an attempt to unfasten destructive identity constructions that non-native speakers are accustomed to.

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Published
2011-09-05
How to Cite
Zacharias, N. T. (2011). An English Teacher Struggle to Establish Voice in the Periphery. K@ta, 13(1), 64-77. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.13.1.64-77
Section
Articles