“It Takes Time for Language to Change”: Challenging Classroom Heteronormativity through Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS)

Abstract

The foreign language classroom affords conversations related to heteronormativity, language, and power, but instructional approaches often center upon discrete aspects of grammar and vocabulary. Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) disavows such approaches, instead utilizing personalized questions and co-created stories. Queer Theory and Queer Linguistics interrogate the linguistic manifestation of heteronormativity. This paper draws upon both Queer Theory and Queer Linguistics in analysis of participant observation of two adult Mandarin TPRS classes and one adult Spanish class. As such, we seek to understand how language educators and students of TPRS experience and understand normativity related to gender/sexuality and language in the classroom. Findings indicate that TPRS can potentially both reify and challenge heteronormativity, thereby illustrating the potential that unscripted and queer approaches can bring to the classroom.

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