Black, White, and Rainbow [of Desire]: the colour of race-talk of pre-service world language educators in Boalian theatre workshops

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines how Boalian Theatre of the Oppressed exercises helped instructors and pre-service teachers navigate the consequences of ventriloquized, racialized discourses in a pre-service world language teacher education classroom. Applying a critical and performative approach, we analyse the mostly White student–actors' varying representations of a "White teacher's" use of the term "hoodlum" for classroom management and the resulting communication breakdown that occurred between the teacher and a "Black parent." Findings indicate that rehearsing pre-service teachers' classroom struggles helped to move the group away from monochromatic perceptions of White/Black, Teacher/Parent interactions to a polychromatic view of interlocutors' multiple histories and investments. This study has implications for revitalizing the place of world language education in K-12 education, extending the acquisition of second language verbs and nouns to incorporate connections between language, culture, history, and power.Keywords: foreign language educationstudent teachersracecritical pedagogyperformance-based focus groupsAugusto Boal Notes1. We prefer to use the term "world language" as it promotes an inclusive, globally minded orientation towards the study of target languages. However, because "foreign language" is still more widely used both by the references we cite in this article and in K-12 US certification programs around the country, we will occasionally refer to foreign language education.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJennifer WootenJennifer Wooten is Clinical Assistant Professor of World Language Education in the School of Education and Lecturer in Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA). Her work focuses on critical conceptions of teacher education and WLE curriculum and instruction.Melisa Cahnmann-TaylorMelisa (Misha) Cahnmann-Taylor is Professor of TESOL & World Language Education in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia (USA). She is the author of two books using theatre and the arts in teacher education and education research.