Intersectionality and the Discursive Construction of English Teacher Identities in Japan

Luke Lawrence

Apr 2026 · Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching Book 33 · Channel View Publications

About this ebook

An impressive work, both methodologically and theoretically, which brings clear novelties to the flourishing field of language teacher identity research.

This book aims to disrupt the native-speaker/non-native-speaker binary through a study of the construction of English teacher identities in Japan. The book suggests that macro discourses in the Japanese context, as well as institutional processes, are powerful forces in perpetuating native-speakerist discourses and ascribing identity labels.

However, in self-identification and in interactions with students, the results are found to be more nuanced, with a complex picture of identity construction emerging that questions the binary nature of the “native speaker/non-native speaker” duality. This complexity rests on the intersectional nature of identity construction and highlights the importance of taking into account the intersectionality of a variety of identity markers when researching language teacher identity.

About the author

Luke Lawrence is an Associate Professor in the College of Commerce at Nihon University in Japan. He has written widely on identity, intersectionality and translanguaging in the ELT field and is the co-editor of two books: Duoethnography in English Language Teaching (2020, with R.J. Lowe) and Discourses of Identity in Japan (2023, with M. Mielick and R. Kubota).