Sexual Identities in ESL: Queer Theory

I have to admit that professionals in TESOL field have almost explored everything, I felt amazed at the title of this article,Sexual Identities in ESL,Queen Theory, I never anticipated that someone will write an article appealing more inclusions of gay/lesbian identity in ESL classroom. I definitely enjoyed reading article, which was very fresh to me. The novelty of the approach and perspective was of great interest to me. The writer also elaborated the difference between gay and lesbian framework and queer theory which is more relevant to everyone, not just restricted on homosexual people. The inquiry which is informed by queer theory involve two theories that I am very interested in personally: "identifying prevailing, competing, and changing cultural norms that pertain to sexual identities. exploring problematic and positive aspects of this identity domain"


I was a little bit surprised about the writer's observation in the college, because some of the students felt embarrassed to respond to the teacher's question, two 30-year-old men walking down the street,is it normal if they hold hands? Then I looked at the time of that article was written, it was 1999. I have no idea if the students opinions in this classroom have changed now.However, most people I have known do not have prejudice against queer community. This is partly contributed to the queer theory, I guess.


Also,I happen to have the same experience of introducing gay/lesbian people's images in my classroom that the writer mentioned in the article.When I was working in the English school, we were required to give at least one "apply yourself" class to students, in this AY class, we simply talk to studeng in English and keep interviewing them until they become very fluent in English. Thus, we were brainstorming about what to teach, one day we had an idea of introducint gay/lesibian/transgender identities to our classroom. To my surprise, most of my students kept an open mind of those people. Student told me they had seen some gay people who were very laid-back and almost the same as the average people. But there was a gay teacher in our school who sometimes felt uneasy when they student were joking around about sissy gay people. It is the stereotype that they get over time. I can't make them get rid of this, however, as we talked, they gradually became more understanding of these people.

Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching.

The article argues for the need to shift the attention from native speaker to L2 user for a number of reasons. The notion of native speaker is the only perfect model teacher for students has remained unshakable for several decades. Defined the native speaker and L2 user, the writer starts to explain the problems of the native speakers and then explores the status of the native speaker who has constantly been referred as the implicit teacher in the ESL teaching materials. The writer continues to discover the question of L2 Difference or Deficit. I read with great pleasure that the write refutes the idea of comparing native speaker to L2 user, which is the same as comparing apple to pear. (PP.195) “ l2 users should be treated as people in their own right, not as defecient native speakers.” To gain a native speaker linguistic competence is not a feasible goal for many L2 users. The writer did not bother to compare who is more suitable for ESL students,which I believe does not make any sense. However, she suggests how we can change people’s attitudes of their stereotypes of their model teachers, such as including L2 user situations and roles, basing teaching on Descriptions of L2 Users.

We have a saying in China, it takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep. This is an idiom we use to describe the seriousness of an issue does not develop to the current state overnight. To change people’s attitudes about L2 user, I think besides the suggestions that writer has given to us, we, as L2 user future teacher, also need to be proud of our identities in ESL. If we don’t have faith in ourselves, we won’t succeed in our careers. Although differences do exist between native speakers and L2 users, we need to realize that it is unfair to measure ours on the native speaker norm.

I also checked out the website that Dr. Seloni e-mailed us, Dave’s ESL Café. I found that a lot of jobs posted on his website requires native speaker teachers, some of the advertisements even indicate clearly ONLY NATIVE SPEAKERS are eligible to apply for this job. These jobs that require or give preference over native speaker are mostly from the outer circle countries.

Revisiting the Colonial in the Postcolonial: Critical Praxis for Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers in a TESOL Program

As usual, I do enjoy reading Revisiting the Colonial in the Postcolonial: Critical Praxis for Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers in a TESOL Program. How do we objectively assess the postions of Native speaker teacher and non-native-speaker teachers in an EFL context has been confusing me for many years.

The writers didn’t bother to compare who is doing better.Comparing actually makes little sense, because native speakers, non-native speakers are good at doing different things. And I am so glad that the course helped the graduate students raise their awareness that they could play as professionals in TESOL.

As a non-native-speaker, I still struggle with my identity in the EFL context. I sometimes feel that I am not a qualified teacher for students, because I cannot understand very well about what native speakers are talking about, feeling inferior and blaming myself for not studying hard enough in English. Students in my home country, China, are also obsessed with the idea that only native speaker teacher is the perfect teacher in the classroom. I, somehow, agree with them in the respect of teaching spoken English. I really don’t know many ESL people who can achieve native speaker language competence. Thus, I think native speaker teacher can do better than then non-native-speaker teacher. However, when it comes to the grammar , reading, or writing, because too many skills need to be taught in these sections, I believe that non-native-speaker can help students learn faster. Also, I want to stress another point which the writer didn’t specify. It also depends on the students’ proficiency level, if the students are at low beginning level, I think he/she needs a non-native-speaker teacher who can speak his/her mother tongue to guide him/her through. When it comes to higher level, native-speaker-teacher will suit their needs better in spoken English. These are the ideas that are rooted in my mind for many years.

After reading this article, I start to rethink the issue that linguistic proficiency is indeed vital for non-native-speaker teachers. However, as mentioned in the book(pp.150) “Language is not always a matter of external behavior, but it pertains to the very intimate sense of self.” We need to be keenly aware of our identity in the EFL classroom.