Challenging the raciolinguistic inequality in English education in Thailand: the macro, meso, and micro perspectives

ABSTRACT

This article examines the prevalence of white privilege and supremacy in the context of English education in Thailand by presenting an auto-ethnographic exploration of the raciolinguistic experiences of a Filipino English language teacher. It explores the macro, meso, and micro levels contributing to the prevalence of monolingual ideologies and injustices encountered by non-white and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) in the country. We argue that since the field of English education has the potential to serve as a locus of inequality while simultaneously providing an opportunity to contest the white privilege and native English speaker-teachers’ (NESTs) hegemony, cultivating linguistic and cultural diversity and equality is a way to challenge and resist the monolithic view of English, giving equality and justice to all English language teachers, regardless of their race and nationality. Facilitating transformative endeavours can be achieved by promoting critical and reflective approaches to policy, pedagogy, and teaching practices, highlighting the importance of intelligibility in cross-cultural and multilingual interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• English education
• ELT
• raciolinguistic inequality
• Thailand
• white privilege

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark Bedoya Ulla

Mark Ulla is an Assistant Professor and the Head of Research at the School of Languages and General Education, Walailak University, Thailand. He obtained his Doctor of Communication degree from the University of the Philippines Open University. His research interests are teacher education, EFL teaching, language education and studies, and teacher training.

Jeng Jeng Mandolado Bolintao

Jeng Jeng M. Bolintao earned her doctorate in Language Education Cum Laude at Saint Louis University, Baguio City. She is the University Director of the Department of Quality Assurance at Ifugao State University and holds the academic rank of Professor II. Her research interests include orthography, teaching-learning strategies, gender and development, and technology in teaching and translation.

Pavirasa Praditsorn

Pavirasa Praditsorn is a lecturer at the School of Languages and General Education, Walailak University, Thailand. Her research interests are Thai language education and studies and computer-assisted language teaching