English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms comprise several groups
of students with different backgrounds according to their nationality,
race, class, ability, age, gender or sexual identity. Many EFL students in
the US do not match the patriarchal norm of being male, white, middle
class, young, heterosexual and able-bodied, resulting in an inherent
disadvantage for them when learning the target language. Implicit biases
which might arise in the classroom can negatively affect students’
motivation, thus preventing them from producing meaningful language
output and from negotiating their identities in the new social contexts
provided in the classroom.
