CAN WE TALK ABOUT RACISIM IN EAP?

Abstract

‘Can We Talk About Racism in EAP?’ reflects on the Community Session of the same name at the BALEAP 2023 Biennial Conference. In the session, using JPB Gerald's talk ‘Bad at English’ (2021) as a stimulus, participants discussed the challenges and benefits of integrating anti-racist pedagogy into English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curricula. Questions raised included the extent to which ideas around linguistic deficit were related to racism, the potentially compromised role of EAP practitioners when adopting a raciolinguistic perspective and the extent to which raciolinguistic theories originating from a US context were more broadly applicable. Although self-selecting, participants made compelling arguments for addressing colonialism and racism in EAP. This write-up contends that EAP and anglophone academia are rooted in British and US imperialism and White supremacy, which manifest in discriminatory language practices and raciolinguistic ideologies, such as native-speakerism and monolingualism. It concludes by advocating for EAP educators to adopt a raciolinguistic perspective to challenge colonial legacies with the aim of dismantling systemic racial and linguistic inequities in EAP and beyond.