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8 - “I Just Opened My Heart”

Challenges and Contradictions in Multilingual EMI Teacher Identity Construction

from Part II - Identity and Educational Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2025

By
D. Philip Montgomery
Edited by
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini  and
Peter I. De Costa
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
Peter I. De Costa
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Summary

This chapter reports on a qualitative study of one higher education teacher at a rural technical university in Kazakhstan, where English Medium Instruction (EMI) presents formidable challenges for educators. Drawing upon Gee's discourse analysis tools and Darvin and Norton's investment model, this study illuminates the interplay between affordances, social positionings, and values within EMI contexts. Critical discourse analysis was used to investigate issues of language, ideology, and power that emerged from one hour-long semi-structured interview with Samal, an experienced sociology professor. Our conversations both highlight and challenge dominant discourses in EMI contexts related to economic mobility, internationalization, and native speaker ideologies. Special attention is given to the interviewer–interviewee relationship as both collaboratively shape the interview's focus and social roles, demonstrating the mutual influence of language use in constructing discourse.

Keywords

multilingual teacher identitycritical discourse analysislanguage ideologypositioning
Type
Chapter
Information
Critical English Medium Instruction in Higher Education , pp. 126 - 145
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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