
Molly Kelley
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Andrew Lewis
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According to a 2013 National Bureau of Economic Research study,
19% of the population is non-heterosexual, roughly one out of five
students in any given classroom (Coffman, Coffman, & Ericson,
2013). This says nothing of students who are transgender nor those who
are intersex. Despite these numbers, lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) students are
“assumed straight…until proven gay” (Calleja, 2013, p. 7).
This assumption of heterosexuality negatively affects the
language-learning outcomes of LGBTQIA students. It is not
inconsequential that queer English as a second language (ESL) students
have reported both anxiety in heteronormative classrooms and a desire to
learn in more inclusive spaces (Calleja, 2013). Couple this with the
reality that factors of motivation, such as anxiety and attitude toward
the learning environment, negatively influence our students: “Without
sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable
abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals, and neither are appropriate
curricula and good teaching enough on their own to ensure student
achievement” (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 65).
So, why are ESL educators ignoring the needs of roughly 20% of
their students? On the one hand, there is often a lack of awareness on
the part of the instructor; we hope that the preceding information has
helped shed light on this important issue and has convinced readers to
prioritize the needs of queer students. On the other hand, many
instructors seek to avoid perceived discomfort on behalf of their
students. They may abstain from addressing topics they find
controversial, topics they expect their students to be offended by. For a
number of reasons, avoidance of discomfort does a huge disservice to all students. One example of this disservice can be
found when instructors make gross assumptions about large swaths of
their students based solely on place of origin. Assuming, for example,
that students from the Middle East will not be open to a discussion even
tangentially related to queer issues ignores their individuality as
students and otherizes them. In addition, we also
deprive our students of the vocabulary and exposure they need in order
to discuss issues of gender and sexual literacy with fluency and
sophistication.
More important, avoiding discomfort specifically punishes
LGBTQIA students by flipping the script: we treat homophobic students
and students with bigoted thoughts as “victims” of a diverse classroom.
Nelson (2009) discusses this when she says, “Pedagogically, this
translates into a primary focus on those who ‘suffer’ from having
homophobic feelings, not those who suffer as a result of being hated or
feared” (p. 73).
Ultimately, we are left with a classroom culture where we limit
our students in their exposure to LGBTQIA topics, further normalize
heterosexism/cissexism (prejudice or discrimination against transgender
people), and leave both LGBTQIA students and potential allies without
the skills they need to combat homophobia both in and out of the
classroom.
We propose that ESL instructors prioritize inclusive learning environments for all students rather than catering to cisgender, heterosexual
students. We acknowledge that making our classrooms safe and inclusive
may make homophobic students feel uncomfortable; however, given the
negative relationship in the research between a repressive learning
environment and LGBTQIA students’ language-learning outcomes, this does
not particularly concern us. In what follows, we provide some practical
ways to make the classroom more inclusive for students who truly need
our support.
Provide Expectations
First of all, instructors will find that many issues of
homophobia dissolve when clear, authoritative expectations are provided
early in the semester. These expectations should be written plainly in
course syllabi and explained thoroughly on the first day. Begin by
discussing the vocabulary students need to understand these topics and
continue by giving specific examples of homophobic behaviors. Explain,
for example, how laughing at the mere mention of homosexuality is
unacceptable.
Support Queer Students
Another way to make classrooms more inclusive is to offer
support to queer students. This could be as simple as bringing attention
to any LGBTQIA resource centers or counseling services that are
available to them. Many campuses also offer Safe Zone training (The Safe
Zone Project, 2016), which seeks to train better allies and increase
visibility. Instructors who have completed their Safe Zone training put a
sign on their door that signals to students that this instructor is
someone who can be safely approached with concerns or assistance on
LGBTQIA topics. For more information and access to a free online
curriculum, visit The
Safe Zone Project.
Respond Appropriately to Homophobia
The next practice we suggest arises due to the spontaneous
nature of homophobia. Homophobia happens casually and puts those who
oppose it in the position of reacting immediately. More often than not
this plays out with an instructor getting angry and lecturing their
students about what to think, rarely an effective strategy in
establishing inclusive classrooms. For this reason, we suggest
responding more thoughtfully, rather than reacting immediately, to
homophobia. To respond to an instance of homophobia in your classroom,
begin by bringing the classroom to a halt. Tell the students to stop
what they are working on. Tell them to stop talking. Give yourself a few
moments to assess the situation and check in with your own emotions
before talking to the students. To be clear, we are not suggesting being
silent on issues of homophobia, but rather allowing the weight of a
frozen classroom to inform the students there has been a misstep before
it is directly addressed. Use this time to decide what you would like to
say to your students. Explicitly state that you do not share the
sentiment they have expressed. Explain that homophobia is not shared
among the vast majority of Americans. If your institution has an
antidiscrimination policy, remind them of such, and question the
reasoning behind the student’s behavior. Because homophobic ideas rarely
stand up to strict scrutiny, asking the offending student why they hold
a specific opinion is effective in showing the classroom where you
stand and why. A benefit of this strategy is that LGBTQIA students are
shown support without having to out or defend themselves.
Responding rather than reacting to homophobic behavior is
effective in showing students that they exist in a community where
homophobia is rejected and that homophobic opinions are neither welcome
nor shared. Rather than dogmatizing at our students and telling them
what to think, we simply articulate that they are not in a space that
welcomes bigoted thinking. This is more effective in terms of getting
students to think critically about their assumptions and ideas, and it
happens of their own will rather than by your command. Notably, this
strategy also models for students and allies a way to defend themselves
and others against future homophobic behavior.
In addition, this process gives students experience with
dissenting opinion in an academic setting, something that ESL courses
should be preparing university-level students for, anyway. This is
alluded to in Nelson (2009) when she says that “the pedagogic goal…is
not to stop students from saying something offensive…but to look at how
interlocutors identify and manage interactions in which rules about
‘correctness’ and ‘appropriacy’ are not shared” (p. 89).
Include Topics of Sexual Literacy
One final way to make ESL classrooms more inclusive is to work
topics of sexual literacy into our courses. This is not the same as
overtly teaching gender or sexuality studies, nor is this spotlighting
sexuality; rather, we can address curricular goals while including media
that feature a wide range of gender and sexual representation. This can
be hugely beneficial for several reasons. One is that this technique
normalizes LGBTQIA identities rather than treating them as
controversies. Treating queerness as a controversy gives students the
mistaken perception that they have a say in how LGBTQIA individuals
choose to live their lives or even whether they have a right to exist at
all. Another issue that comes up when we frame LGBTQIA topics as
controversies is that we force our queer students to closet, defend, or
out themselves in order to participate. Another benefit to normalizing
LGBTQIA identities through a wide range of representation is that it
exposes students to non-heterosexual and non-cisgender characters
without instructors lecturing to their students that homosexuality is
okay. This helps students negotiate the importance and impact of
sexuality on an internal level.
A few examples of inclusive media follow; however, it should be
said that whereas finding media that normalize gay, lesbian, and
bisexual characters is fairly easy, the same is not true for
transgender, intersex, and asexual representation. As such, we consider
this a working list, and look forward to expanding it in the future.
Authors
David Sedaris
Malinda Lo
Imogen Binnie
Books
Gold, by Dan Rhodes
Shallow Graves, by Kali Wallace
Bleeding
Earth, by Kaitlin Ward
More Than This, by Patrick Ness
Spoken Word
Dark
Matter, by Janani Balasubramanian and Alok
Vaid-Menon
Podcasts
Welcome to Night
Vale, by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
Alice Isn’t Dead, by Joseph Fink
The Bright Sessions, by Lauren Shippen
EOS 10, a scifi radio play, by Justin McLachlan
Wooden Overcoats, by David K. Barnes
The Mortified, by David Nadelberg
References
Calleja, R. E. (2013). Sexual identity in the ESL classroom:
Exploring attitudes of LGBT adult ESL students (Master’s thesis). Hunter
College of the City University of New York, NY.
Coffman, K. B., Coffman, L. C., & Ericson, K. M.
(2013). The size of the LGBT population and the magnitude of anti-gay
sentiments are substantially underestimated. National Bureau of
Economic Research, 12. doi:
10.3386/w19508.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language
learner: Individual differences in second language
acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Nelson, C. D. (2009). Sexual identities in English
language education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Safe Zone Project. (2016). One safe zone to rule them all.
Retrieved from http://thesafezoneproject.com/about/
Molly Kelley is an ESL teacher and student
advocate from Iowa City, Iowa, USA. Her professional interests include
second language acquisition, creating inclusive classrooms for LGBTQIA
students, and adapting popular culture for ESL use. She currently
teaches at the University of Iowa.
Andrew Lewis is an ESL instructor currently teaching
at the University of Iowa. His interests lie in materials development
focusing on diversity and representation, the use of popular fiction
podcasts in ESL classrooms, test development, and addressing student
motivation. |