Table Of ContentAMBIGUITIES AND TENSIONS IN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
The central theme of this book is the ambiguities and tensions teachers face as
they attempt to position themselves in ways that legitimize them as language
teachers, and as English speakers. Focusing on three EFL teachers and their schools
in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, it documents how ordinary practices of
language educators are shaped by their social context, and examines the roles,
identities, and ideologies that teachers create in order to navigate and negotiate
their specifi c context. It is unique in bringing together several current theoretical
and methodological developments in TESOL and applied linguistics: the perform-
ance of language ideologies and identities, critical TESOL pedagogy and research,
and ethnographic methods in research on language learning and teaching.
The author balances and blends descriptive reporting of the teachers and their
contexts with a theoretical discussion which connects their local concerns and
practices to broader issues in TESOL in international contexts. Framing the
teachers’ views of the ir work (and themselves) by the sociopolitical context in
which they live and work, the book presents a richly textured representation that
renders the teachers and their classrooms as multidimensional and allows readers
to appreciate the subtle complexities that give rise to the “tensions and ambigui-
ties” that are the central focus of the book.
Peter Sayer is Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics/TESOL in the
Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas at San
Antonio.
E SL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series
Eli Hinkel, Series Editor
Sayer • A mbiguities and Tensions in English Language Teaching: Portraits of EFL
Teachers as Legitimate Speakers
Alsagoff/McKay/Hu/Renandya, Eds. • Principles and Practices of Teaching
English as an International Language
Kumaravadivelu • Language Teacher Education for A Global Society: A Modular
Model for Knowing, Analyzing, Recognizing, Doing, and Seeing
Vandergrift /Goh • Teaching and Learning Second Language Listening:
Metacognition in Action
LoCastro • Pragmatics for Language Educators: A Sociolinguistics Perspective
Nelson • Intelligibility in World Englishes: Theory and Practice
Nation/Macalister, Eds. • C ase Studies in Language Curriculum Design
Johnson/Golumbek, Eds. • R esearch on Second Language Teacher Education: A
Sociocultural Perspective on Professional Development
Hinkel, Ed. • H andbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning,
Volume II
Nassaji /Fotos • Teaching Grammar in Second Language Classrooms: Integrating
Form-Focused Instruction in Communicative Context
Murray/Christison • What English Language Teachers Need to Know Volume I:
Understanding Learning
Murray/Christison • What English Language Teachers Need to Know Volume II:
Facilitating Learning
Wong/Waring • C onversation Analysis and Second Language Pedagogy: A Guide for
ESL/EFL Teachers
Nunan/Choi, Eds. • Language and Culture: Refl ective Narratives and the
Emergence of Identity
Braine • Nonnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and Professional
Growth
Burns • Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A Guide for
Practitioners
Nation/Macalister • Language Curriculum Design
Birch • The English Language Teacher and Global Civil Society
Johnson • Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective
Nation • Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing
Nation/Newton • T eaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking
Kachru/Smith • Cultures, Contexts, and World Englishes
McKay/Bokhosrt-Heng • International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts:
Towards a Socially Sensitive EIL Pedagogy
Christison/Murray, Eds. • L eadership in English Language Education: Theoretical
Foundations and Practical Skills for Changing Times
McCafferty/Stam, Eds. • G esture: Second Language Acquisition and Classroom
Research
Liu • Idioms: Description, Comprehension, Acquisition, and Pedagogy
Chapelle/Enright/Jamison, Eds. • B uilding a Validity Argument for the Text of
English as a Foreign Language ™
Kondo-Brown/Brown, Eds. • T eaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage
Students Curriculum Needs, Materials, and Assessments
Youmans • Chicano-Anglo Conversations: Truth, Honesty, and Politeness
Birch • English L2 Reading: Getting to the Bottom, Second Edition
Luk/Lin • Classroom Interactions as Cross-cultural Encounters: Native Speakers in
EFL Lessons
Levy/Stockwell • CALL Dimensions: Issues and Options in Computer Assisted
Language Learning
Nero , Ed. • Dialects, Englishes, Creoles, and Education
Basturkmen • Ideas and Options in English for Specifi c Purposes
Kumaravadivelu • U nderstanding Language Teaching: From Method to
Postmethod
McKay • Researching Second Language Classrooms
Egbert/Petrie, Eds. • C ALL Research Perspectives
Canagarajah, Ed. • Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice
Adamson • Language Minority Students in American Schools: An Education in
English
Fotos/Browne, Eds. • New Perspectives on CALL for Second Language Classrooms
Hinkel • Teaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and
Grammar
Hinkel/Fotos, Eds. • N ew Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language
Classrooms
Hinkel • Second Language Writers’ Text: Linguistic and Rhetorical Features
Visit www.routledge.com/education for additional information on titles in
the ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series
AMBIGUITIES AND
TENSIONS IN ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TEACHING
Portraits of EFL Teachers as
Legitimate Speakers
Peter Sayer
First published 2012
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 Taylor & Francis
The right of Peter Sayer to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark Notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Sayer, Peter.
Ambiguities and tensions in English language teaching : portraits of EFL
teachers as legitimate speakers / Peter Sayer.
pages cm. — (ESL & applied linguistics professional series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. English language—Study and teaching—Mexico—Oaxaca (State)—Case
studies. 2. English language—Study and teaching—Social aspects—
Mexico—Oaxaca (State)—Case studies. 3. English teachers—Mexico—
Oaxaca (State)—Case studies. 4. English language—Social aspects. I. Title.
PE1068.M6S39 2012
428.0071’07274—dc23 2012012961
ISBN13: 978-0-415-89773-0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-80371-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Cenveo Publisher Services
In memory of tío Michael J. Higgins, an ethnographer with a
deep commitment to social justice in Oaxaca; he was always
about p az y amor, y siempre buena onda.
And in memory of Jaime Castro Leyva, English teacher,
and all those who lost their lives during the 2006
confl ict in Oaxaca:
Que descansen en paz
CONTENTS
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
1 Exploring the Contradictions of Language Teaching 1
2 Three English Teachers 18
3 Squeezing More Juice: Portraits of Local English Teaching in
Oaxacan Communities 39
4 Legitimacy, Symbolic Competence, and Teaching English 77
5 So They Can Defend Themselves a Little: The Meanings
and Contradictions of Teaching English 97
6 Hey, Take it Easy!: Ambivalence and Language Ideologies 129
7 I Lasted One Day and Then I Was Gone:
Performing Legitimacy 161
