RACISM in the Field

Does Anti-Racism Belong in an ESL Curriculum?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask in good faith whether anti-racism has a place in the ESL curriculum. In most contexts and programs, though, my answer to this question is an emphatic yes. Here are a few reasons why that is. 

 

For one thing, racism is pervasive. In my fifteen years in the ESL classroom, I’ve seen racism, anti-Blackness, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia (not to mention homophobia and transphobia) crop up more times and in more ugly forms than I care to count. The task of rooting out and eradicating racism requires a far-reaching, multi-front approach, one that certainly includes the classrooms where it continues to rear its head.

 

More specifically, though, the field of English language teaching is one uniquely rooted in colonialism, and thus bound up with various forms of racism in ways that go far deeper than “racism is everywhere.” If there is anywhere that whiteness is still shamelessly centered, it is in the field of English language teaching. Take a look at an ESL coursebook. Look at which Englishes are taught and assigned prestige. Look at which accents are upheld as “neutral” Examine what “professionalism” is code for. Incorporating anti-racism as a partial corrective into the ESL curriculum ranks among The Least We Can Do. 

There are those among us who believe that simply by doing “good work” like ESL with pure hearts and good intentions, that we have clean hands and clear consciences and that this anti-racist stuff can be for someone else to do. Gerald (2020) terms this the “altruistic shield.” It is a dangerous complacency, and we need to work to disabuse ourselves and our peers of it. 

https://nystesol.org/blog/nys-tesol-blog/2021-04-27-locating-antiracism-in-the-esl-curriculum