English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Japan is highly racialized. Sociohistorically constructed racial difference and hierarchy position White native English speaker as ideal teachers (Rivers & Ross, 2013), and... [ view full abstract ]
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Japan is highly racialized. Sociohistorically constructed racial difference and hierarchy position White native English speaker as ideal teachers (Rivers & Ross, 2013), and influence the hiring practices of English teachers (Kubota & Lin, 2009). Presence of native speakers is valued not necessarily because of their linguistic competence, but because of exoticized image of foreignness and whiteness (Breckenridge & Erling, 2011). Against such a backdrop, non-White English teachers have reported experiencing racial prejudice (Asai, 2006; Kubota, 2002).
This study reports on a narrative of an Asian-Canadian female assistant language teacher, Shannon, who was a participant of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. The JET Programme is currently one of the largest government-sponsored programs for recruiting English language teachers in the world (Nagatomo, 2016). Using Gee's (2014) D/discourse analysis, this study investigated how Shannon participated in Discourses (with capital D) at her school and how her racial, gender, employment, and physical characteristics influenced the ways in which Shannon negotiated her legitimacy as a teacher.
Findings illuminated the complex interplay of racial, gender, employment, and physical characteristics. Due to her Asian appearance, Shannon felt she was “not foreign enough” to attract students’ and teachers’ interests. In addition, Shannon had difficulty resisting a gendered Discourse—in which women are expected to behave in a reserved manner and engage in certain tasks at work (e.g., serving tea)—because her violation of such norms was perceived by Japanese people more vividly than her non-Asian colleagues’ violation of them and Shannon felt that would threaten her legitimacy as a teacher. Also, her status as an assistant and her petite physical characteristics influenced the ways she exercised the “disciplinary power” as a teacher.
Through analysis of Shannon’s accounts, this study explicates how illegitimatization of an Asian English teacher was D/discursively produced and reproduced. This study also highlights the ways in which Shannon utilized her struggles as pedagogical resources.
