Secondary school LGBTQ+ EFL teachers’ workplace: Insights and conundrums
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Abstract
The study unfolds five Thai LGBTQ+ English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ narratives in a Thailand secondary school. One-on-one semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations provide data for analyzing and developing narratives. Teachers’ workplace, queer theory, and intersectionality ground the study’s theoretical foundation. The three lenses of narrative inquiry (contextuality, sociality, and temporality) provide a robust structure for data analysis and organization and presentation of findings. Overall, these five teachers explain, share, and negotiate definitions of their workplace realities, interpret ways of thinking and living their sexual orientation, and deal with intersectionality conundrums of social status and social hierarchy among other elements. These teachers’ narratives add salient insights and conundrums to a burgeoning LBGTQ+ scholarship. More importantly, findings of this study not only call for inclusion and social justice for but also raise concerns for the well-being of every LGBTQ+ teacher.
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