Abstract
Despite an increase in ethnic diversity within the country, the English language teaching workforce remains undeniably binary in Korea. Using an intersectionality lens, this study was an exploration of the racialized experiences of one Ugandan female teacher of English working in Korean ELT. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate how she perceived herself as an English speaker and teacher and how Koreans’ stereotypes of ideal English teachers and Black people affected her professional identity and self-perceptions. Findings suggest that the Ugandan woman was rejected by the formal accreditation process and faced considerable challenges in her efforts to be accepted as a qualified English teacher in Korea. On the other hand, she perceived herself as a native-like English speaker and a fully qualified English teacher with an MA degree in TESOL and years of English teaching experience. This study reveals not only the practical difficulties of a biased assessment system, but also the narrow discourse concerning who can legitimately be recognized as an English teacher in Korea, which is at odds with the Korean policy of a pursuing multicultural society and honoring diversity and with the global trend of recognizing multiple English.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to express her sincere gratitude to Critical Pedagogy SIG members for sharing the ideas and the referees who provided generous and constructive feedback throughout the entire review process. She would also like to thank the participant of the study who was willing to share her story and allow me to write about it.
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Conflict of interest statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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