The merits of queer-inclusive education in EFL classrooms

Abstract

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.