ICIS Newsletter - March 2015 (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
LEADERSHIP UPDATES
•  LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
•  LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
ARTICLES
•  FIGHTING THE SYSTEM: HOW INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COURSES CAN COMBAT ENFORCED LINGUISTIC HOMOGENEITY ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
•  IS IT TWPOC (TEACHING WHITENESS TO PEOPLE FROM OTHER CULTURES) OR TESOL?
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY
•  SNEAK PEEK: TESOL 2015 ICIS EVENTS

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Kris Acheson-Clair, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Hello Friends and Neighbours,

Greetings from sunny Honduras! As we come to the end of my term as InterCom editor, I wanted to put together an issue that not only looked forward to the upcoming convention in Toronto, but also took an honest, critical look at the present state of our field, our institutions, and ourselves.

My inspiration for this issue started with a former student of mine, who speaks with a voice we don’t often hear in TESOL, but should. In his words:

My name is Andrew Choi, and I am Korean American. Like many children of immigrants, I belong to two different worlds. One world is that of my parents, the other is of my birthplace. Depending on the situation, I can move from one to the other. However, there are times when I feel like an outsider to both. My recent job search has reminded me of this.

For the past few months, I have been searching for English teaching jobs in China. Long before I started the search, people told me that I would have difficulty in finding a job. I was told that Chinese students have certain expectations for how their teachers “look.” I do not believe this is true. Having interacted with a lot of students in different settings in China as part of a study abroad program I participated in, I believe the students care a lot more about the teacher's ability to teach than their teacher’s appearance.

But the story is different for school administrators. As soon as I make initial inquiries about job ads, I am rejected by schools, despite having the same credentials and experience as my classmates who are interviewed and eventually hired for these positions.

Schools may view my background as a negative, but I view it as a positive. I have all the advantages of a native speaker of English but in addition I believe my Asian background helps me understand the culture of China better than the average teacher coming from the US. This knowledge makes it easier for me to adapt to the environment of China and helps me in overcoming cultural barriers. I hope to find an institution that will recognize these advantages that my bicultural background gives me.

This young TESOL professional’s story is a reminder to us of many uncomfortable truths about the present: the challenges of multiculturalism, the unearned privileges of Whiteness, and the support that we all need in confronting these issues that continue to plague us.

The articles in this issue of InterCom contribute to the public discourse on such problems, as does our InterSection in Toronto that, in conjunction with the Social Responsibility Interest Section, takes a critical look at English-only policies. I hope you enjoy this special issue and TESOL 2015.

To conclude, I wanted to wish you all a warm farewell, as this will be my last issue of InterCom before handing over the editorial reins to your incoming newsletter editor, Dr. Patriann Smith of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Thank you all for your support as contributors and readers of InterCom during my tenure as editor—I will miss this labor of love!

Cheers,

Kris

Kris Acheson-Clair (PhD in Intercultural Communication, Arizona State University, 2008) is director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL at Georgia State University. She teaches courses in intercultural communication, sociolinguistics, and teaching methods, and her research interests include silence, motivation for FL study, and teaching and assessing intercultural competence. She is researching and teaching in Honduras this year as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at Zamorano Agricultural College.