Deconstructing heteronormativity in the EFL classroom
Date
2019Author
Ayala Bonilla, Dayana Alexandra
Barón Gómez, Harol Arley
Metadata
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As English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pre-service teachers and Colombian citizens we have experienced and witnessed how heteronormativity has permeated all levels of education leading students to rejection, discrimination, and suicide. This Participatory Action Research study based on Social Justice Principles implemented in the EFL classroom of two public schools explores tenth grade students’ (re)constructions of their understandings and notions about their own and others’ identities, sexuality, diversity, and the consequences and presence of discrimination in their daily life. Informed by data from questionnaires, students’ artifacts and focus group interview, researchers identified students’ individual processes disclosed in three different stages of oppression, liberation, and change. Starting with their experiences of oppression due to the need of belonging, the liberation of the self, and finally their need and hope for social change through EFL as a tool.