Knisely, K. (2021, May). Toward Trans Applied Linguistics. Paper presented at the 27th annual Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference. (Online).
Abstract: Language teaching and learning represents a site for identity (re)construction, mediated through the process of language acquisition and use (Atkinson, 2011; Norton, 2013). As students develop linguistic abilities, they also develop a multilingual sense of self. In keeping with this view, the field has begun to advance pedagogies that engage with students as whole persons, encouraging students to reflect on their own evolving identities and potentially encouraging more ethical teaching (Moore, 2016; Knisely, 2017). To scaffold educators, a limited, though growing, body of literature that particularly considers sexual diversity and its role in language curricula, textbooks, research, and pedagogy has emerged (Paiz, 2019; Cahnmann-Taylor & Coda, 2017; Coda, 2019; Nelson, 2009). In, through, and alongside this work, queer applied linguistics (ALx) has begun to be a veritable subfield. However, narratives about LGBTQ+ lives and concerns have not historically attended equally to all segments of the acronym. Specifically, ALx has tended to be dominated by considerations of sexuality, often excising, effacing, or treating trans people as a monolith—perpetuating trans, non-binary, gender-non conforming invisibility Knisely, 2020; Paiz, 2020). Scholars in education have begun to address what trans-affirming pedagogies could look like (Agid & Rand, 2011; Spade, 2011; Nicolazzo, Marine, & Galarte, 2015), however, such research has extended to applied linguistics in scant ways (Knisely, 2020; Knisely & Paiz, 2021). This paper begins with a review of the field of ALx vis-à-vis questions of gender diversity. Establishing the current state of the field, the paper then moves to consider how trans positionalities can be made a visible component of language education and the importance of trans knowledges for applied linguistics, language teachers, and learners. Particular attention is paid to the limits of visibility and the liberatory potential of invisibilities (see also Nicolazzo, 2019). Ultimately, the presenter outlines what trans applied linguistics could look like, in relationship with ALx, and how this field can contribute to creating more critical and equitable pedagogies.
Related publication:
Knisely, K. and Paiz, J.M. (Forthcoming 2021) Bringing Trans, Non-binary, and Queer Understandings to Bear in Language Education. Critical Multilingualism Studies. 9(2).
Defining trans: Necessarily broad, always incomplete.
Knisely, K. (2021b). L/G/B and T: Queer Excisions, Entailments, and Intersections. In J. Paiz & J. Coda (Eds.) Intersectional Perspectives on LGBTQ+ Issues in Modern Language Teaching and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan. 163-197.
Knisely, K. (2020b). Subverting the culturally unreadable: Understanding the self-positioning of non-binary speakers of French. The French Review. 94(2), 149-168
(Please see the publications section of this site for more information.)
Term definitions:
ALx: Queer applied linguistics
Heteronormativity: “The presentation of only certain forms of heterosexuality as valued and valid identity options in a particular social setting [. To elaborate:] the presentation of cisgender, White, monogamous, reproductive, able-bodied, straightness as natural, normal, and desirable,” (Knisely & Paiz, 2021).
Transnormativity: “The presentation of only certain trans embodiments as valid (i.e. The assumption that trans people should fit a cissexist idea of what is “normal”)” (Knisely & Paiz, 2021).
QIBPs: Queer Inquiry-Based Pedagogies (See Paiz 2018, 2019b, 2020)
TAQIBPs: Trans-affirming queer inquiry-based pedagogies (coined in Knisely & Paiz, 2021)
Cisnormativity: “The erroneous assumption that (almost) all people are cisgender, presenting such identification with the sex one was forcibly assigned at birth as the only valued, valid, or possible gender modality,” (Knisely & Paiz, 2021).
Deadnaming: using a person’s birth name after they have adopted a new name
Misgendering: designating individuals as belonging to a gender category to which they do not belong
Critical Questions (from Knisely & Paiz, 2021, additional questions in “ideas for applying TAQIBPs” infographic below)
Why is it so?
Who benefits?
Who is marginalized?
What alternatives exist?
Self-inventory (from Knisely & Paiz, 2021)
What do you know about TGNC lives and concerns in your home context(s)?
In your target context(s)?
In what ways have you brought this knowledge into the classroom?
In what ways do normative language and teaching practices continue squelch TGNC lives and concerns in your classroom?
-
How does your approach make room for unlearning/resisting normative conceptualizations of gender and sexuality?
How can your approach be used to help shift normative or exclusionary linguistic practices?
How can you work to make your approach one that addresses queer and trans issues through the curriculum?
What can you do to highlight the often contested, tentative, and emergent nature of identity, language, gender, and sexuality?
What moves will you need to make to tie a more inclusive approach to your current practices and language learning goals?
How can you modify your approach to facilitate learning with your students?
-
How does your own positionality influence your answers to the above questions?
What normative discourses have you been exposed to/internalized?
What personal biases might you need to attend to while treating TGNC topics?
-
To what extent are TGNC people made visible in the materials that I use? In the broader curriculum? In the overall institutional context?
In what ways are TGNC people positioned in the materials that I use? In the broader curriculum? In the overall institutional context?
Student Self Inventory (from Knisely & Paiz, 2021)
What do you(r students appear to) know about TGNC lives and concerns in your home context(s)?
In your target context(s)?
In what ways have students already brought TGNC topics into the classroom?
In what ways do student practices and normative language use continue to passively ignore or actively squelch TGNC lives and concerns in your classroom?
Please see the publications page to view and request copies of my written work for your personal, private use. This includes the following readings, which I particularly recommend for anyone interested in continuing with the topics and themes of this talk.
Knisely, K. and Paiz, J.M. (2021) Bringing Trans, Non-binary, and Queer Understandings to Bear in Language Education. Critical Multilingualism Studies. 9.
This piece provides an introduction to trans-affirming queer inquiry-based pedagogies and illustrates how they offer one possible path toward increasingly just and equitable sites of language teaching and learning.
Knisely, K. (2021). L/G/B and T: Queer Excisions, Entailments, and Intersections. In J. Paiz & J. Coda (Eds.) Intersectional Perspectives on LGBTQ+ Issues in Language Teaching and Learning. Palgrave Macmillan.
This piece explores the relationships that exist between gender and sexuality, particularly as they have and continue to play out in the field of applied linguistics and advocates for an intersectional approach to understanding the positionalities of language users, learners, and teachers.
Knisely, K. (2021). Teaching trans: The Impetus for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming inclusivity in L2 classrooms. In K. Davidson, S. Johnson, & L. Randolph (Eds.) How We Take Action: Social Justice in K-16 Language Classrooms. Information Age.
This chapter is perhaps my most general piece, offering an introduction to thinking about queer inquiry-based pedagogies and a series of reflection questions for educators to think about where they are beginning with their knowledge of trans people, lives, and concerns and where they are beginning with thinking about what that means for their specific language classroom.
Knisely, K. (Forthcoming 2021). A Starter Kit for Rethinking TGNC Representation and Inclusion in French L2 Classrooms. In N. Meyer & E. Hoft-March (Eds.) Teaching Diversity and Inclusion: Examples from a French-Speaking Classroom. Routledge.
This chapter is a broad introduction to working with trans knowledges and language forms in the French language classroom.
Knisely, K. (2020). Le français non-binaire: linguistic forms used by non-binary speakers of French. Foreign Language Annals. 53(4), 850-876. doi: 10.1111/flan.12500
This article addresses the actual linguistic aspects of form creation, selection, and propagation of non-binary forms. It simultaneously considers the implications of these linguistic realities (including nascency, resistance, and plurality) for the teaching and learning of French and other languages with so-termed grammatically binary gender.
Knisely, K. (2020). Subverting the culturally unreadable: Understanding the self-positioning of non-binary speakers of French. The French Review. 94(2), 149-168.
This article considers how non-binary speakers of French self-position in specific linguistic and cultural landscapes and what that might mean for how we think about and understand various non-binary communities as (linguistic) co-cultures.
Additional recommended publications, authors, and organizations can be found on the partners & colleagues page.
Please see the resources for educators page for numerous other resources, including but not limited to the below infographics:
