Queering ESOL: towards a cultural politics of LGBT issues in the ESOL classroom
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Culture, Communication and Media
Abstract
The theme of this seminar series addresses the challenges for ESOL policy and practice of the issues surrounding sexual diversity raised by the new legal climate created by the 2010 Equality Act. The focus is on ESOL rather than other forms of post-compulsory education for two reasons. First, the proposal arises responsively from an articulated concern among ESOL practitioners on how to engage with LGBT issues, demonstrated at a one-day NATECLA (National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages) conference hosted by the British Council in October 2012 and subsequently by the contentious nature of the debates about religious sensitivities and freedom of speech on the online ESOL Research list. These debates suggested both a vacuum of opinion on how to engage with LGBT issues in ESOL and the lack of an evidence base. Second, from a theoretical perspective ESOL is an important context to explore LGBT issues because of the heightened intersection of sexual diversity with other forms of diversity (e.g. ethnic, religious, class) - the ESOL classroom being in effect a laboratory of super-diversity (Vertovec, 2007) and intersectionality.
Until now issues of LGBT diversity have been largely invisible in ESOL policy and practice and there is a lack of a well-articulated theoretical framework on which to base research which can provide evidence to inform practical interventions in pedagogy, language teaching materials development, teachers' professional development, and inclusive policies in super-diverse settings. We have designed the seminar series (see Case for support) with a view to establishing an inter-disciplinary framework for research to include expertise from a broad range of relevant disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities which will illuminate the practical and theoretical dilemmas inherent in making visible LGBT issues in ESOL pedagogy and practice.
The seminar series aims to initiate dialogue between researchers from a range of disciplines, ESOL practitioners, LGBT activists, those involved in migrant advocacy and other interested parties (such as academic publishers and the OFSTED inspectorate) with the intention of identifying and scoping an agenda for researching LGBT issues in ESOL, promoting ongoing research networking and collaboration nationally and internationally, and informing ESOL pedagogic and working practices. The seminars will engage with issues of LGBT in ESOL in terms of: a) legal and policy frameworks, b) classroom and curriculum contexts and c) in relation to the lives and experiences of LGBT teachers and students. It will conclude with a conference designed to draw the strands of the different seminars together to scope an ongoing research agenda for LGBT issues in ESOL.
Until now issues of LGBT diversity have been largely invisible in ESOL policy and practice and there is a lack of a well-articulated theoretical framework on which to base research which can provide evidence to inform practical interventions in pedagogy, language teaching materials development, teachers' professional development, and inclusive policies in super-diverse settings. We have designed the seminar series (see Case for support) with a view to establishing an inter-disciplinary framework for research to include expertise from a broad range of relevant disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities which will illuminate the practical and theoretical dilemmas inherent in making visible LGBT issues in ESOL pedagogy and practice.
The seminar series aims to initiate dialogue between researchers from a range of disciplines, ESOL practitioners, LGBT activists, those involved in migrant advocacy and other interested parties (such as academic publishers and the OFSTED inspectorate) with the intention of identifying and scoping an agenda for researching LGBT issues in ESOL, promoting ongoing research networking and collaboration nationally and internationally, and informing ESOL pedagogic and working practices. The seminars will engage with issues of LGBT in ESOL in terms of: a) legal and policy frameworks, b) classroom and curriculum contexts and c) in relation to the lives and experiences of LGBT teachers and students. It will conclude with a conference designed to draw the strands of the different seminars together to scope an ongoing research agenda for LGBT issues in ESOL.
Planned Impact
Who will benefit from this seminar series?
There will be three main types of beneficiary, one academic and two groups of users. The academic group consists of a) researchers engaged in developing a research agenda for adult ESOL and b) researchers working on issues of migration and sexual diversity from a number of disciplinary perspectives - legal, sociological, anthropological, linguistic and literary. Bringing these groups together around the topic of LGBT issues in ESOL is in itself an innovatory synthesis which will generate ongoing research collaborations. One of the applicants, Baynham, brings to the project extensive experience of productive international research networking, firstly as co-convenor of the AILA (International Association of Applied Linguistics) Scientific Commission on Literacy (1995-2000) and secondly of the AILA research network on Language and Migration (2004-2010). We therefore anticipate an academic impact of continued research collaboration internationally after the conclusion of the seminar series. The second group consists of those concerned in the broadest sense with the planning, delivery and support of ESOL programmes. These include ESOL teachers, managers, those who provide curriculum support and professional development, and materials writers. The involvement of key organizations such as NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, http://www.niace.org.uk), the British Council and NATECLA (National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults, http://www.natecla.org.uk) will ensure the extension of reach of our impacts via their well established communications networks. The third group are those involved in campaigning and advocacy for the rights of sexual minorities, such as Stonewall (http://www.stonewall.org.uk) as well as those with a specific concern for the LGBT rights of migrants, such as the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group (http://www.uklgig.org.uk). Clearly the experience of these participants will enhance the discussions, but they will also gain perspectives on strategies to extend their work in relation to hard-to-reach LGBT communities. It should be noted also that the focus on ESOL will further illuminate super-diversity across the post-compulsory education sector more generally. Attention to potential impacts of this sort will be facilitated by the participation of NIACE.
How will they benefit?
Academic communities will benefit from the opening up of inter-disciplinary engagement around the topic of LGBT issues in ESOL and the theoretical frameworks developed in the seminar series will provide the basis for further research, in particular with regard to super-diversity and intersectionality. We strongly expect and will plan for international impacts in the form of continued international research networking and research collaboration after the conclusion of the seminar series. This will be modelled on the highly influential series of international seminars conducted by the AILA Literacy and Language and Migration networks.
The ESOL user community will benefit from a sustained opportunity to clarify thinking and to strategize for supporting participation of LGBT students in ESOL classes, as well as the development of theoretical frameworks to support inclusive pedagogy, professional development and materials writing. In turn, these benefits will be relevant to the wider post-compulsory education sector more generally.
User communities who campaign for LGBT rights and on migration issues will benefit by the emphasis on intersectionality in the seminar series. Mainstream LGBT groups will gain insights into the particular issues involved with hard-to-reach minority communities. Those working in migration will gain insights into the particular situation of LGBT migrants.
There will be three main types of beneficiary, one academic and two groups of users. The academic group consists of a) researchers engaged in developing a research agenda for adult ESOL and b) researchers working on issues of migration and sexual diversity from a number of disciplinary perspectives - legal, sociological, anthropological, linguistic and literary. Bringing these groups together around the topic of LGBT issues in ESOL is in itself an innovatory synthesis which will generate ongoing research collaborations. One of the applicants, Baynham, brings to the project extensive experience of productive international research networking, firstly as co-convenor of the AILA (International Association of Applied Linguistics) Scientific Commission on Literacy (1995-2000) and secondly of the AILA research network on Language and Migration (2004-2010). We therefore anticipate an academic impact of continued research collaboration internationally after the conclusion of the seminar series. The second group consists of those concerned in the broadest sense with the planning, delivery and support of ESOL programmes. These include ESOL teachers, managers, those who provide curriculum support and professional development, and materials writers. The involvement of key organizations such as NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, http://www.niace.org.uk), the British Council and NATECLA (National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults, http://www.natecla.org.uk) will ensure the extension of reach of our impacts via their well established communications networks. The third group are those involved in campaigning and advocacy for the rights of sexual minorities, such as Stonewall (http://www.stonewall.org.uk) as well as those with a specific concern for the LGBT rights of migrants, such as the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group (http://www.uklgig.org.uk). Clearly the experience of these participants will enhance the discussions, but they will also gain perspectives on strategies to extend their work in relation to hard-to-reach LGBT communities. It should be noted also that the focus on ESOL will further illuminate super-diversity across the post-compulsory education sector more generally. Attention to potential impacts of this sort will be facilitated by the participation of NIACE.
How will they benefit?
Academic communities will benefit from the opening up of inter-disciplinary engagement around the topic of LGBT issues in ESOL and the theoretical frameworks developed in the seminar series will provide the basis for further research, in particular with regard to super-diversity and intersectionality. We strongly expect and will plan for international impacts in the form of continued international research networking and research collaboration after the conclusion of the seminar series. This will be modelled on the highly influential series of international seminars conducted by the AILA Literacy and Language and Migration networks.
The ESOL user community will benefit from a sustained opportunity to clarify thinking and to strategize for supporting participation of LGBT students in ESOL classes, as well as the development of theoretical frameworks to support inclusive pedagogy, professional development and materials writing. In turn, these benefits will be relevant to the wider post-compulsory education sector more generally.
User communities who campaign for LGBT rights and on migration issues will benefit by the emphasis on intersectionality in the seminar series. Mainstream LGBT groups will gain insights into the particular issues involved with hard-to-reach minority communities. Those working in migration will gain insights into the particular situation of LGBT migrants.
Organisations
Publications
Baynham, M.
(2017)
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity
Gray J
(2018)
Intersectionality, language and queer lives
in Gender and Language
Gray, J.
(2016)
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity
Morton Tom
(2018)
Social Interaction and English Language Teacher Identity
| Description | This seminar series set out to explore the issues affecting LGBT students and teachers in adult ESOL in the light of the 2010 Equality Act and Ofsted's subsequent response to this legislation in which the inspectorate states in its Handbook for the inspection of further education and skills that LGBT students comprise a group whose 'needs dispositions, aptitudes or circumstances' may mean that they 'require particularly perceptive and expert teaching and, in some cases, additional support'. The most significant achievements of the seminar series were: • identifying ESOL as a rich and productive setting for the exploration of interdisciplinary queer research; • highlighting the need for discussion about LGBT issues in ESOL and education settings more generally - evidenced by the high level of attendance and participation in all the seminars; • identifying the complex migration trajectories of LGBT students, the frequent marginalisation of trans and intersex students and the usefulness of intersectionality as a lens for exploring LGBT students' identities and identifications; • developing a multi-faceted intellectual agenda of key areas in need of further research and the implications, particularly for initial teacher education and CPD (see below); The grant objectives were all met. The seminar series succeeded in developing a research agenda and brought together a wide range of participants. These included teachers, ESOL students, doctoral researchers in a range of disciplines, LGBT and migration activists, journalists, film makers, pedagogical materials writers, the Ofsted inspectorate, legal experts - as well as academics from anthropology, geography, gender studies, psychology, sociology and sociolinguistics. Our objective to incorporate an international perspective was met through hosting speakers from the USA, South America, South Africa, Australia, China, mainland Europe and the UK and the series ended with a high profile two-day conference which enabled those attending to reflect on the series and discuss the way forward. The team will now produce and disseminate a summary of the series for ESOL practitioners who were unable to attend and will design a CPD unit reflecting some of the good practice showcased in the series. The series website (which has had over 6,000 views and nearly 2,000 individual visitors) is currently being developed by seminar attendees a permanent resource for ESOL teachers. A multifaceted research agenda has emerged from the seminar series. This includes the need for research into queer life stories and the ways in which intersectionality is enacted linguistically - an agenda which will be explored by the seminar series organisers and some speakers from the series in a forthcoming international conference and special issue of a peer reviewed journal. Research is also needed into the ways in which policy is implemented in classrooms; how can teachers best address (within the context of competing rights) the issue of sexual diversity in the classroom; the problems posed for teachers and students by disclosure; and the role played by pedagogical materials in these issues. This agenda which will be of use to ESOL teacher educators will be explored in an edited volume edited by the seminar organisers. Many of these issues are being taken forward with Queering ESOL contributors at the May 2016 IGALA conference in Hong Kong in a specially convened panel entitled 'Intersectionality, language and queer life/lives: time and transition in LGBTQI life stories'. It is anticipated that this panel's papers will form the basis for a special issue of Gender and Language. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings will be of use to those involved in initial teacher education, continuing professional development for teachers, and those involved in the production of pedagogical materials for second language teaching - as well as those interested in interdisciplinary queer research. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
| Description | In this narrative impact document we consider impact under the following two headings - Reach and Pedagogic Practice. Reach The seminar series had an impact on practitioners in the UK and internationally. The five one-day seminars and the concluding two-day conference were attended by a total of 180 people overall. Each seminar was attended by up to 40 people from 10 different countries with many attendees coming to more than one seminar. The majority of attendees were from different regions in the UK. The Queering ESOL website has been viewed 13,875 time by a total of 3,700 visitors from 44 different countries in all continents. In addition, Language Issues, a practitioner journal helped disseminate the findings of the seminar series in two journal issues (Winter 2015 and Summer 2016). The editor informs us that the issues were read by approximately 800 ESOL practitioners nationally and internationally. As we show below, feedback from attendees demonstrates that the ideas discussed at the seminars are being put into practice in a variety of ways across a range of sectors in the UK and overseas. Impact on Pedagogic Practice There are two principle types of impact reported by attendees - 1) changes in attitude and stance towards the treatment of LGBTQI issues in teaching in general; and 2) direct impact on classroom and institutional practice. With regard to the first type of impact, all attendees who gave feedback reported changes of this kind. Typical examples are as follows: 1) Attitude and stance I feel as though the series had quite far-reaching effects through its influence on myself and another colleague who attended. Rather than pointing to specific actions in my college that have come about as a result of Queering ESOL, I would say that the effect has been bigger but less easily quantifiable: a subtle sea change in priorities, certainly for me and perhaps for others. [] I work in a majority Muslim college where most of my students are Bangladeshi women who are in the UK as a result of arranged marriage. I therefore used to assume none of them were gay - which I now realise is statistically highly unlikely, after teaching for so long. I also didn't think much about the role of my straight students as powerful actors in the lives of LGBT others dependent on them - sons and daughters, for example - let alone the impact of silence on isolated and invisible LGBT students - and that therefore it is really important to establish a climate of positivity in a proactive way, not to let silence imply a homophobic norm through erasure. (ESOL teacher, UK). [T]he series made me aware of issues I had not thought of before and hopefully this has come through in my teaching (University lecturer, UK). Queering ESOL also gave me access to new discourses and insights into complexities I was previously unaware of, in particular the intersection of religion and sexuality. It helped me realise that my own practice that is very much focussed on participatory pedagogy and taking students' lives and concerns as the raw material in lessons meant that, in the main, LGBT issues were absent in my lessons (ESOL teacher, UK). The play [in seminar 3] was provoking because I easily judged the teacher who did not want to discuss sexuality, I realised how important it is to think about reasons for silence and how complex it can be to overcome them (ESOL teacher, UK). 2) Direct impact on classroom and institutional practice With regard to the second kind of impact, informants commented on pedagogical content and materials, innovation in practice and informal networking. Examples of impact in these areas are attested by the following examples: Pedagogical content and materials I do raise LGBT issues proactively whenever possible rather than allowing heteronormative assumptions to prevail by default and through silence. I try to ensure that gay or lesbian relationships are brought into the room as a norm (rather than made the focus) (ESOL teacher, UK). Cynthia Nelson's critical narrative, in form of classroom drama, can be highly engaging with participants role-playing various characters (queer and straight). Her drama inspired me to use drama in my critical sexual literacy research (EFL teacher, Hong Kong). Although I have always challenged homophobia in the classroom, I had not done enough to make sure that LGBT experiences actually figured in our discussions in the classroom. Many of my students live in families and social environments which do not give them any access to LGBT discourses. I started to see classroom as an opportunity to actively widen access to new discourses for my students, rather than only focusing on their own experiences and this has given me new impetus to introduce LGBT lives into the classroom, and given me the confidence to tackle silences or not to immediately judge students or consider some contributions offensive or upsetting. Recently one of my students asked me to introduce the murder of LGBT rights activist, Xulhaz Mannan, in Bangladesh. Most students, although Bengali had not heard about this or him and we spoke about not only the terrible murder but also about his life as a campaigner. Students found it difficult to express themselves and some students remained silent but it was nevertheless an important moment (ESOL teacher, UK). I attended the 3rd seminar in the series of Queering ESOL events that focussed on classroom practice. I appreciated the very fact that the seminars were taking place and being organised in such a rigorous and thoughtful way, they were not just a token, "How do we talk about LGBTQ once a year?" This year I had a very heartening experience with my young learner (15 - 18) ESOL class. The college organised for some outside speakers to come in from an organisation called Movement for Justice. They take action for LGBTQ people at risk of deportation to countries where they are not safe. One speaker told their personal story of coming out in Ghana, what he experienced and why he was fighting to stay in England. The teenagers related to him because it was personal and not patronising. They asked a lot of questions, some of which were quite hard, but that he handled. When the speaker said he didn't know where his boyfriend was, but that he was still in love with him, there was a spontaneous round of applause. Like the session this experience made me think about the importance of the personal story and of allowing and encouraging difficult questions rather than shutting down debate (ESOL teacher, UK). The [third] seminar challenged me to think about queering all materials, not just the one session on family I teach (ESOL teacher, UK). I remember the Oxford professor's talk and the plenary. I found it interesting and useful to re-visit issues in text books and I think I was reminded to use some of the ideas in teaching after that - just simple things like making sure that there are same-sex couples as well as heterosexual couples in visuals (ESOL teacher, UK). It's also made me really think about the materials we use in class and on training courses (CELTA and Delta) I've included input on this, as it is very important for teachers new and experienced to be aware of this (EFL teacher trainer, UK). Innovation In [my FE college], teachers have been asked to take part in a staff development programme which involves them identifying an aspect of their practice they would like to improve. They then form a group, and work together to focus on this aspect in various ways. For example, materials making, peer observations, lesson planning etc. Along with another colleague, who also attended Queering ESOL I have set up a group to focus on LGBT in our classrooms. A number of other colleagues have also joined (ESOL teacher, UK). Two years ago I moved out of Adult Education to set up a community education project for a mixed group of women from a range of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, including English speakers and English learners. The impact of the ESRC seminar series was to reinforce my conviction that we must 'teach English' by modelling the way in which we want people to live together; that is by creating learning spaces where participants work equally to take responsibility for their communication barriers and finding strategies to overcome them. [] The seminars reinforced the centrality of gender and heteronormativity in language studies. In my practice, where women's common ground is that of mothers and staff at a local school, there is rich ground for exploration of gendered issues in education, from school uniform to literacy materials to female role models. Simply providing a women-only learning space has proved to be highly political, a further example of the need to become publicly visible in all aspects of our sexual and gendered identities (ESOL teacher, UK). I have also become involved with my local organization of primary and secondary school language teachers, offering a workshop at their annual conference last year on LGBTQ inclusion in language curricula, and I am accepted to offer another workshop at their conference this autumn. Last year's workshop was very well-received; teachers expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to learn more about an issue that they felt they were dealing with without any support or guidance. (University lecturer, USA). Informal networking I found the seminars useful and inspiring in a number of ways. Firstly, I was inspired to send in a proposal to IATEFL 2016 on the topic. This was accepted and presented to a packed room in April this year. Prior to this, a run through at a peer training session with teaching peers at my London-based school went down very well, and many of those who attended regularly discuss and update me with queer moments in their classrooms. [] Finally, I was able to make connections with several attendees, some of which I hope to work with in the future on projects related to queering ESOL. (EFL teacher, UK). It's encouraged me to talk to other colleagues more about this issue (EFL teacher, UK). The opportunity to learn about the work of colleagues in the UK and Europe, both scholarship and practice, has enriched the scope of my work and motivated me to think critically about inclusion in my language area (Spanish, Spanish for Heritage Speakers) (University lecturer, USA). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Policy & public services |