Interrogating the ‘normal’. (Noticing) discourses of legitimacy, identity and difference in Languages education

In this chapter, the authors explore the multiple and unequally empowered ways that language, culture and identity play out in the experiences and practices of Languages and EAL/D teachers in secondary school contexts in Melbourne, Australia. This exploration is based on data from a research project that explored recent changes to Australian Languages and EAL/D curriculum and policy and its impact on teacher practice. Analysis of the teachers' conversations about these policies, and about their daily experience and practice, made visible the ways in which teachers in the discipline areas Languages and EAL/D—and the students they worked with—were positioned, and how they positioned others. The authors argue that a deeper interrogation of the production and reproduction of identity and difference—and how these are shaped within the systems in which teachers work—is key to setting out a more nuanced and responsive approach to Languages and EAL/D education.