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The teaching of English in multilingual contexts such as Zimbabwe, where English is often not the primary language of the Black majority public school student population, is a highly contested issue. Though generally considered as necessary in an increasingly globalized, English language dominated world, this conventionally Eurocentric, elitist-oriented English education system is imbued with colonialist discourses that tend to shape and complicate educators’ understandings about the place of diverse sociocultural backgrounds, ethnic-identified indigenous languages, indigenous knowledge systems, and differently abled learners within its conventional structures.
In Teacher Stories, the author utilizes postcolonialist theoretical lenses and a poststructuralist-inflected narrative inquiry approach to self-reflexively analyze her impressions of three veteran Zimbabwean teacher educators’ interpretations of what they understand to be their experiences of learning and teaching English.
The purpose of this research is to provide English education scholars and policy makers with some insights into what veteran Zimbabwean English teacher educators perceive as the efficacies and challenges of implementing policy-mandated inclusive education pedagogical practices. Since English teacher educators’ perspectives are a much under-researched area of English in a Zimbabwean context, this study makes a meaningful contribution to the international field of English education.
Preface – Acknowledgments – Introduction: Another Country – Teaching English in Zimbabwe: Pedagogy and Policy – Research and the Researcher: Narrative Inquiry – English Language Learning and Inclusive Education: "Stories" of Progression and Disjuncture – Cultural Diversity, Social Class, and Inclusion – Teacher Preparation and Inclusion – Inclusive Education Policy and English Education – Teacher Educators’ Perceptions of the Multilingual Policy – The Future of English Education in Zimbabwe – Concluding Understandings – Appendix: Zimbabwean Racial Identifications.
Kumbirai Khosa is an English educator, a former secondary teacher, and returned Peace Corps volunteer. She holds a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Khosa currently resides in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she works as a college English writing instructor.
"Nothing is as powerful as a study whose time has come. This must-read book unpacks the importance of grounding the teaching of the English language within diverse cultural contexts in order to accelerate proficiency by intentionally connecting learning to prior knowledge, including other language proficiencies. The author considers the value of the English language in the increasingly globalized world while also challenging the foundation of schooling in Eurocentric values and sensibilities, where academic achievement is attained at the expense of students’ psychosocial and emotional well-being, which perpetuates colonialism decades after the collapse of its political empires."—Tsitsi Chataika, Professor of Disability Studies and Inclusive Education, University of Zimbabwe
“In this beautifully written book, Kumbirai Khosa details the struggles and potential of teaching and learning English in Zimbabwe, where gaining proficiency in English language in school settings often comes at the expense of students’ indigenous identities, languages and cultures. In using her own and others’ experiences as English teachers in settings around the world, she presents a well-crafted argument about the personal and professional assets that native Zimbabwe teachers can bring to English language classrooms. Her asset-based model of teaching is a welcome addition and counterpoint to contemporary educational policies based on standardized testing and other accountability measures and should be required reading for all Zimbabwean teachers-in-training.”—Terrie Epstein, Professor of Education, CUNY School of Education at Hunter College, New York
“This book adds an important perspective, that of teacher educators, to the ongoing conversation about how to create an inclusive English-language curriculum for secondary students in postcolonial African contexts. Kumbirai Khosa provides a historically contextualized, nuanced understanding of some of the successes and challenges of English education in Zimbabwe. The three featured veteran professionals, who are some of the educators at the front lines of implementing public high school education reform policies, have much to teach us all.”—Rosemary Moyana, Pro Vice Chancellor and Professor of Education, University of Zimbabwe
“Kumbirai Khosa has enhanced the ethnographically oriented aspects of her research with extensive examinations of complex historical, social and cultural forces that have influenced present-day education policies in Zimbabwe. Dr. Khosa particularly focuses on contentious issues of ‘language’ in relation to Zimbabwean teacher educators’ perceptions of current conditions, demands and practices in the teaching of English. This significant book thus offers compelling and crucial analyses of the effects of narrowly invested conceptions of ‘language’ on all teacher educators’ work, especially in relation to their predominant understandings of language and its flows, fluxes and indeterminacies.”—Janet Miller, Professor of English Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York
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