Don't hold your tongue: Overcoming the monolingual bias in schools | Charity Anderson | TEDxBGSU

Tue May 13, 2025

The effort to normalize English and marginalize non-English languages in the U.S. is referred to as the monolingual bias. This practice affects school cultures as a whole, but it is not found within a vacuum. Rather, it manifested from a wider national bias to support the assimilation of reachable consumers through language solidarity. This attitude in America is an isolated circumstance, since most of the world is already bilingual, and continues to affect schools despite inconsistent efforts to alleviate its presence. Negative stigmas toward other languages arise from the promotion of the idea that one language is truly useful, which causes ESL programs to be seen more as a remedial service and not as a benefit to schools. ESL teachers can directly contribute to the goal of inclusiveness and student value by making specific alterations to address long held problems found in common ESL teaching models: pullout, inclusion, and team-teaching. Charity Anderson pursued a Ph.D. from BGSU, and graduated with an MA, BA, BS, AA, and AS from other universities. She currently instructs women's studies and literature courses at BGSU. She is a licensed teacher and taught in Ohio and Michigan grade schools for 14 years before becoming a college instructor. She is the mother of four children and is a member of the disabled community. Her research is focused on disability rhetoric and marginalized voices. She has presented research at multiple universities and professional organization conferences, and she was awarded several accolades for her writing. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

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