ERIC Number: EJ1419905
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1367-0050
EISSN: EISSN-1747-7522
Queer Breaches and Normative Devices: Language Learners Queering Gender, Sexuality, and the L2 Classroom
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, v27 n5 p675-688 2024
Cisgender and heterosexual norms permeate every level of language classrooms, from textbooks to classroom discourse to teachers' actions, constraining queer/trans learners' ability to be themselves. Yet queer/trans and non-queer/trans learners alike may challenge cisheteronormativity within the language classroom and create new possibilities. We investigate the possibilities of queer/trans learners' agency within these normative structures by bringing together three cases from larger separate projects, examining the context and actions of learners in each setting as they attempt to queer their classrooms to make them habitable. Drawing from Ahmed's queer phenomenology, we analyze the devices that orient students to classroom cisheteronormativity, actions that students and their accomplices may take to breach these norms, and the reactions to and potential of such breaches within the L2 classroom context. We find that orienting devices, including curricular representation, language use, and grading practices, convey implicit and explicit messaging that can limit expressions of gender and sexuality. Yet queer breaches, when not subject to straightening, can lead to new classroom possibilities for expression, playfulness, and identity validation. We conclude by considering the implications of this analysis for practice.
Descriptors: LGBTQ People, Social Bias, Second Language Learning, Minority Group Students, Student Behavior, Coping, Language Usage, Course Content, Grading, High School Students
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A