Trauma and healing among linguistically minoritised TESOL teachers: agency for change against linguistic racism

Abstract Linguistic racism, understood as a form of “new racism”, continues to marginalise TESOL teachers’. While its traumatic effects are acknowledged, little is known about how teachers experience and heal from such trauma. This study seeks to understand how three linguistically minoritised TESOL teachers experience trauma under linguistic racism and develop trauma-informed agency for change in response. Using a multiple case study, this research utilised (1) semi-structured interviews, (2) reflective journals, and (3) artwork expressions (e.g., drawings and poetry). Data were analysed using thematic, narrative, and visual methods, with ethical approval secured. Findings indicate teachers’ trauma emerged through two primary forms: ethnic accent bullying and racialised linguistic stereotyping. In healing their trauma and resisting linguistic racism, teachers developed multidimensional agency for change toward inclusion and social justice, including: (1) agency for transformative change, (2) agency for inclusive pedagogical change, (3) agency for relational change, and (4) agency for structural change. These forms of agency emerged in resistance to monolingual ideologies and entrenched power structures. We propose the model of Teacher Agency for Change to guide equity-oriented teacher education. This work offers pathways for deconstructing linguistic racism and amplifying linguistically minoritised TESOL teachers perspectives in the Global South.