We Teach Languages Episode 46: Labor Issues and Language Teaching with Mura Nava

In episode 46, Stacey interviews Mura Nava, who teaches English to adults in France, about the state of the ELT (English Language Teaching) labor market. Mura shares his experiences as an English teacher in France and introduces us to some individuals and organizations working for justice for teachers. The episode also includes some information about adjunct labor in US higher education.

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Show Notes

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You can read Mura on his website ELF Notes or on Twitter @muranava. He also blogs at the website for the Teachers as Workers SIG. 

Here is Mura’s post we refer to in the episode: https://eflnotes.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/improving-working-conditions-isnt-that-in-the-remit-of-teacher-associations/ and the tweet we refer to!

Mura shared some organizations in Europe working to organize teachers including…

…SLB Cooperative in Spain on the web or on Twitter

…TEFL Guild on the web or on Twitter

…TAW SIG on the web or on Twitter

…ELT Advocacy on the web or on Twitter

Check out Geoffrey Jordan’s blog and the specific post Mura mentioned, and Twitter account that Mura mentioned in the episode.

Paul Walsh also has a blog.

For a hodgepodge of resources I dug up about ELT (English Language Teaching) around the world…

…an academic paper called Perspectives from within: Adjunct, foreign, English-language teachers in the internationalization of Japanese universities by Craig Whitsed and Peter Wright

…an article from the Japan Times For Japan’s English teachers, rays of hope amid the race to the bottom by Craig Currie-Robson

For resources on the adjunct labor market in the US and Canada…

…American Association of University Professors [AAUP]. (n.d.). Background facts on contingent faculty. Retrieved from https://www.aaup.org/issues/contingency/background-facts

…Modern Language Association Committee on Contingent Labor in the Profession [MLA]. (June 2011). Professional employment practices for non-tenure track faculty members: Recommendations and evaluative questions. Retrieved from http://www.mla.org/pdf/clip_stmt_final_may11.pdf

…this article from the Atlantic called There Is No Excuse for How Universities Treat Adjuncts by Caroline Fredrickson

…this guardian piece by James Hoff Are adjunct professors the fast-food workers of the academic world?