‘Unlearning Privileges’: Interrupting Pre-Service Teachers Deficit Thinking of Immigrant Students with Origins in the South

Abstract

Drawing from critical and postcolonial theoretical perspectives, this paper demonstrates how a teacher educator has implemented some experiential strategies in order to encourage pre-service teachers to challenge their largely unexamined, deficit thinking regarding their English as an Additional Language (EAL) students. Teacher educators preparing teachers to work effectively and equitably in a linguistically, culturally and racially diverse context can employ teaching strategies described in this paper.