"English Is Power": Narratives of Asian English Teachers in Language Education

Employing narrative inquiry, this study investigates how Asian graduate students enrolled in a U.S. language teacher education program perceived power relations between American English and other Englishes as well as power relations between English and their native languages. This study also examines how linguistic hegemony affected their identity formation as preservice English teachers. Data sources for this study include individual interviews, group conversations, and language autobiographies. Following a strategy of thematic narrative analysis, the author analyzed the stories told by these preservice English teachers and identified five emergent themes: English as a communication tool, English as power, negotiating the ideology of standard English, unique accent as identity, and the desire to become a more flexible language teacher. This study reveals that English as a communication tool is closely related to .English as power in terms of participants' commitment to English. However, this study also suggests that Asian English teachers view a unique accent as part of their identity, leading them to challenge the ideology of standard English and potentially become more flexible language teachers.