ABSTRACT
I have been both a language teacher and a Christian for quite a while nowapproaching 25 years as to the former and over 30 years as to the latter-and for the whole time I have struggled, at times intentionally and at others unconsciously, with what it means to live out my faith in the context of my vocational calling. I certainly do not feel that I have “arrived,” either spiritually or professionally, so when asked to contribute a response chapter to this volume, I approached the task with great curiosity and some trepidation. Because most questions of interest for me begin and end in the classroom, I was eager to read the chapters in the “pedagogical dilemmas” part of the book to see what other fellow travelers were thinking about and had learned along the road. Though the chapters by Liang, Snow, and Purgason cover disparate topics, I did notice two related themes emerging: issues of power differentials and the teacher as change agent. “Power” (or imbalances thereof) is either a subtext or an explicit focus of all the chapters. Liang’s personal narrative at least indirectly addresses the power differences between native and nonnative English language teachers and in particular how the nonnative teachers can be made to feel marginalized and less competent than native speakers. He articulates and challenges the smug assumptions held by some native speakers that they are obviously and by definition more qualified to teach English, noting that researchers have found that nonnative teachers have unique strengths:
They have a strong explicit knowledge of English grammar; are keenly aware of the differences between L1 and L2; are more empathetic to students’ learning needs, backgrounds, and difficulties; and represent a source of motivation and a good role model.
