Race, language and (In)equality

“I know that it is not the English language that hurts me, but what the oppressors do with it, how they shape it to become a territory that limits and defines, how they make it a weapon that can shame, humiliate, colonize”. (hooks 1994).

Language has always played a central role in colonisation. Language colonisation occurs when colonisers “impose their language onto the peoples they colonised, forbidding natives to speak their mother tongues. In some cases, colonisers systematically prohibited native languages” (Shakib 2011, 117). This was exemplified during the transatlantic slave trade when European enslavers used language planning as a tool to purposefully separate captive Africans who spoke the same African language as a way to minimise communication between people and their plans for rebellion (Baugh 2015). Another example of language colonisation is the United States government removing Native American children from their communities and forcing them to attend boarding schools where they were forbidden from using their native languages. Among linguists, the theory is that colonisers believed that by forcing Native American children to learn English, they would bring a different way of speaking and thinking back to their reservations (Blakemore 2011).

The field of English Education and English classrooms have also historically reinforced language colonisation and have been instrumental in the crafting and maintenance of linguistic and racial inequality. Building on long histories of anti-racist work and activism, critical language scholars have highlighted the different ways in which racialised communities are perceived as displaying linguistic deficiencies and in need of corrective procedures if they are to succeed in school and broader society. For example, Black children in the United States and United Kingdom are regularly instructed that they must learn to code-switch and modify their language so that it appropriates whiteness (e.g. Baker-Bell 2020; Cushing 2023); narratives of “word gaps” continue to frame the language practices of racialised children as limited and lacking (e.g. Cushing 2022); curricula rooted in white supremacist and colonial logics continue to dominate classrooms around the world (e.g. Tanner 2019); assessments work to miscategorise Black Language and perpetuate anti-Blackness (e.g. Cabral 2022), and what constitutes “knowledge” in language and literacy continues to be shaped and crafted by idealised whiteness (e.g. Sriprakash, Rudolph, and Gerrard 2022).

As English educators, we are aware of the current challenges, dangers, and impact raciolinguistic policies and practices (Flores and Rosa 2015) implemented in schools are having not only on students’ learning experiences but also teachers’ professional identities. In those classrooms where standard language ideology dictates that only one version or variety of English is held up as the standard, we question whose voices are heard and whose voices are suppressed. As language educators, we also realise that the English language has always included a variety of dialects and accents and idealised versions of a “gold” (or rather, white, middle-class) standard rarely represent the rich diversity of languages that are used by individuals and communities all over the world. We stand with critical language scholars, including those represented in this special issue, who continue to push back against raciolinguistic ideologies (Flores and Rosa 2015) and advocate for linguistic justice (Baker-Bell 2020). In this special issue, we feature four cutting edge articles from scholars and practitioners whose work provides new visions and possibilities for addressing racial and linguistic inequality within and outside of English classrooms/learning spaces. The featured articles consist of voices, experiences, and points of view which have been historically underrepresented in the scholarly literature.

In the article We BEEN Knowin: Black Women Teachers (Re)member That Our Language is a Living Legacy, Teaira McMurtry argues that, although Black women educators have consistently been on the front lines of language wars and have consistently pioneered antiracist and decolonial language pedagogies, their language practices and unique experiences navigating linguistic racism have been largely ignored in the scholarly literature of the broader field of English Education. Drawing on Black Feminist theories and research frameworks and her own positionality as a Black woman language scholar, McMurtry’s novel research study examines how Black women educators in a south-eastern state in the United States embark on a journey to learn, unlearn, and relearn about the dynamism of their native language, which includes African American Women’s Language and United States Black Language. Findings from this study illustrate that providing Black women educators with a learning experience that centres their language and experiences has the potential not only to transform their self-perception of their language; it can also transform their language pedagogies and lead to a complex interplay of liberation and linguistic transformation.

In the next article, My students hardly speak English, do I still need to decolonise my teaching practice? A dialogue with a critical friend, Daron Benjamin Loo and Jariya Sairattanain engage as English language educators in exchanging ideas via email on teaching practices and perspectives to consider in decolonising South-East Asian ESL classrooms (Thailand and Malaysia specifically). Reflecting on their own positionings influenced by their sociocultural, racial, educational backgrounds, Loo and Sairattanain’s first dialogue excerpt considers the importance of students’ developing English language skills rather than proficiency, to grasp concepts effectively. The second exchange of dialogue concerns the colonial legacy of language proficiency itself, with the authors critically reflecting on how the official languages of their respective nations have superseded other vernacular languages from having equal status. During their critical dialogues, the authors realise the exchanges are a form of push back on ideologies and expectations which reimagine the ESL classroom that empowers students to communicate in the languages of their choosing.

In Challenging the raciolinguistic inequality in English Education in Thailand: The macro, meso, and micro perspectives, Mark Bedoya Ulla, Jeng Jeng Mandolado Bolintao, and Pavirasa Praditsorn acknowledge both the potential of English education to perpetuate inequality and challenge the status quo, arguing for resistance to a monolithic view of English and encouraging communication across artificial borders. Drawing on the lead author’s lived experiences of teaching English in Thailand, and noting a national and racial hierarchy in the treatment of those teachers for whom English is not a “native” language and who are not seen as “white”, the article takes an auto-ethnographic approach to exploring the different levels of linguistic and social discrimination apparent in the Thai education system. The authors root their discussion in an understanding of the history of standard language ideologies and colonial language practices in Thailand, and what they describe as an “obsession” with “white” and “Native English” speakers as teachers where they are invariably viewed as some kind of “benchmark”, seeing this operate at different levels – and through different structures, social as well as economic – throughout Thai society from the top to the bottom. They acknowledge that the effects of this widespread and systemic discrimination are both political and personal, with teachers often internalising feelings of inadequacy. Arguing for a more pluralistic approach to language diversity that prizes intelligibility above a rarefied notion of a “correct” Native English ideal, and real-world communication skills over abstract “standards”, the authors put forward some practical suggestions for how the historical imbalance might be challenged and countered.

In the final article, “English on a pedestal”: The language attitudes and practices of African migrant bilingual parents and Early Years Professionals in the U.K, Denise Amankwah and Katie Howard present an empirical study on African migrant bilingual parents’ perceptions Black African languages. Referring to interviews conducted with Nursery managers, Head of Early Years at three London-based nurseries, and parents of children who attend the nurseries, the authors provide an insight into the complexities which arise with migration at a linguistic level. Amankwah and Howard’s study responds to three key themes from the data: the undervalue of African languages, the status of bilingualism in the educational context, and parents as well as Early Years Professionals’ knowledge about bilingualism and the hierarchisation of the English language. The corresponding author’s positionality makes the article particularly significant and poignant due to her openness in dealing with the loss of her heritage language because of the oppression she herself faced by the British “monolingual” educational system, resulting in a deliberate shift away from bilingualism.

As a collective, these articles challenge hierarchical language ideologies and interrogate how their colonial roots are often normalised and endorsed in the field of English education, which leads to racial and linguistic inequities. At the same time, these contributions reflect a collective effort to imagine, design, and enact decolonial and antiracist language pedagogies and frameworks that bring linguistic and racial equity, joyful language learning, love and hope to English classrooms and teaching and learning.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Furzeen Ahmed

Dr Furzeen Ahmed is a Teaching Fellow in English Language and Literature at Aston University.

April Baker-Bell

Dr April Baker-Bell is an Associate Professor of Language, Culture, and Justice in Education at University of Michigan Marsal Family School of Education.

Dan Clayton

Dan Clayton is an Education Consultant at the English and Media Centre (EMC), London.

Ian Cushing

Dr Ian Cushing is a Senior Lecturer in Critical Applied Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University.