Queering ESOL: towards a cultural politics of LGBT issues in the ESOL classroom

本系列研讨会的主题解决了ESOL政策和实践的挑战，围绕2010年《平等法》创造的新法律的气候所提出的性多样性问题。重点是ESOL而不是其他形式的义务教育后教育，原因有二。首先，该建议是从ESOL从业者对如何参与LGBT问题的明确关注中产生的，这在英国理事会于2012年10月举办的为期一天的NATECLA（全国英语和其他社区语言教学协会）会议上得到了证明，随后在ESOL在线研究列表上关于宗教敏感性和言论自由的辩论具有争议性。这些辩论表明，关于如何在ESOL中参与LGBT问题的意见真空，以及缺乏证据基础。第二，从理论角度来看，ESOL是探索LGBT问题的重要背景，因为性多样性与其他形式的多样性（例如种族，宗教，阶级）的高度交叉-ESOL课堂实际上是超级多样性的实验室（Vertovec，2007）和交叉性。到目前为止，LGBT多样性问题在ESOL政策和实践中基本上是不可见的，缺乏一个明确的理论框架，可以为研究提供证据，为教学法，语言教材开发，教师专业发展和包容性政策提供实际干预。我们设计了研讨会系列（见支持案例），以期建立一个跨学科的研究框架，包括来自社会科学和人文科学的广泛相关学科的专业知识，这将阐明在ESOL教学法和实践中使LGBT问题可见的实际和理论困境。该系列研讨会旨在发起来自一系列学科的研究人员，ESOL从业者，LGBT活动家，参与移民宣传的人和其他相关方之间的对话（如学术出版商和OFSTED检查员），旨在确定和界定ESOL中研究LGBT问题的议程，促进国内和国际正在进行的研究网络和合作，并告知ESOL教学和工作实践。研讨会将在以下方面探讨ESOL中的LGBT问题：a）法律的和政策框架，B）课堂和课程背景，c）与LGBT教师和学生的生活和经历有关。会议最后将举行一次会议，旨在将不同研讨会的要点汇集在一起，以确定ESOL中LGBT问题的持续研究议程。

The theme of this seminar series addresses the challenges for ESOL policy and practice of the issues surrounding sexual diversity raised by the new legal climate created by the 2010 Equality Act. The focus is on ESOL rather than other forms of post-compulsory education for two reasons. First, the proposal arises responsively from an articulated concern among ESOL practitioners on how to engage with LGBT issues, demonstrated at a one-day NATECLA (National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages) conference hosted by the British Council in October 2012 and subsequently by the contentious nature of the debates about religious sensitivities and freedom of speech on the online ESOL Research list. These debates suggested both a vacuum of opinion on how to engage with LGBT issues in ESOL and the lack of an evidence base. Second, from a theoretical perspective ESOL is an important context to explore LGBT issues because of the heightened intersection of sexual diversity with other forms of diversity (e.g. ethnic, religious, class) - the ESOL classroom being in effect a laboratory of super-diversity (Vertovec, 2007) and intersectionality. Until now issues of LGBT diversity have been largely invisible in ESOL policy and practice and there is a lack of a well-articulated theoretical framework on which to base research which can provide evidence to inform practical interventions in pedagogy, language teaching materials development, teachers' professional development, and inclusive policies in super-diverse settings. We have designed the seminar series (see Case for support) with a view to establishing an inter-disciplinary framework for research to include expertise from a broad range of relevant disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities which will illuminate the practical and theoretical dilemmas inherent in making visible LGBT issues in ESOL pedagogy and practice. The seminar series aims to initiate dialogue between researchers from a range of disciplines, ESOL practitioners, LGBT activists, those involved in migrant advocacy and other interested parties (such as academic publishers and the OFSTED inspectorate) with the intention of identifying and scoping an agenda for researching LGBT issues in ESOL, promoting ongoing research networking and collaboration nationally and internationally, and informing ESOL pedagogic and working practices. The seminars will engage with issues of LGBT in ESOL in terms of: a) legal and policy frameworks, b) classroom and curriculum contexts and c) in relation to the lives and experiences of LGBT teachers and students. It will conclude with a conference designed to draw the strands of the different seminars together to scope an ongoing research agenda for LGBT issues in ESOL.