Unstandardized English

In this episode, host JPB Gerald starts a three-part series in which he recounts his first few years as a so-called scholar. Part one is about choosing to go to school in the first place, the first year of class, and up through a pivotal conference he chose to attend. If you like the work and are able to offer any support, please visit the show's patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

A live recording of host JPB Gerald's  presentation from the 2021 NYS TESOL Conference on shortcuts that majoritized teachers take. If you like the work and are interested in supporting the show, please contribute over on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald discusses a necessary avenue in language learning and teaching, namely the process of shifting the burden to where it belongs, the white perceiver.  If you enjoy the work and are able to offer support, please consider doing so over on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode that switches things up a bit, host JPB Gerald discusses the reality of supposedly affordable housing and support for individuals with housing insecurity with a person with actual lived experience and expertise on the topic, his wife's colleague Kadisha Davis, who hosts the "Hear Our Voices" podcast on this topics. If you like the work and are able to support it, please donate on patreon. Anything is appreciated. Thanks!

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with his good friend Dr. Clara Bauler about efforts to challenge the structures of TESOL and language teaching more broadly from their related but dissimilar perspectives as semi-insiders. It's fun, and you should enjoy it. If you like the work and are able to offer support, please do so over on patreon: https://patreon.com/unstandardized. Thanks!

On this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Dr. Siobhán McElduff about ancient languages, classics, grammar, and how all of these subjects combine to be used as a barrier to exclude and oppress. If you are able to contribute and like the work, please consider toss a few bucks in at patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized Thanks.

Do better, academia. Donate on patreon if you like the work! https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Gabriella Licata about the ways in which harmful and oppressive language ideologies are reproduced by the very way that language education is structured, both inside and outside of academia. If you like the work and are able to contribute, donations of any amount are greatly appreciated: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with guest Erika Strandjord about the harmful discourse surrounding "workplace wellness" and the language used to shame workers. If you are able to support the show, anything is appreciated: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald spends most of the episode discussing grad school gatekeeping with sociologist, Dr. Jess Calarco. They talk about grading, academic writing, and other aspects of the "hidden curriculum" that keeps schools homogenous and exclusive. They end the discussion with a quick detour into parental individualism in decision-making processes, particularly regarding vaccines and mask mandates. It's rather dispiriting, as Dr. Calarco says. If you enjoy the work and are able to donate, please visit patreon to toss a few bucks our way: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized Anything is appreciated! Thanks.

On this season 3 (!) premiere, host JPB Gerald speaks with Dr. Maria Rosa Brea, a speech language pathologist, about the very concept of pathologized languaging and all that follows from it. If you like the show and are able to support it, please feel free to visit the patreon at https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized. Anything is appreciated!

In this final episode of season 2, host JPB Gerald reviews each episode of the season and some observations from each discussion, and also recounts a few stories of interpersonal cruelty and its connection to institutional hierarchies. You definitely won't want to miss this one. Support the podcast if you like the work and can afford to. Anything is appreciated: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald brings back the hard-to-wrangle co-habitant AMT Gerald. They talk about saviors in nonprofits and the way that the systems supporting charitable and altruistic organizations are set up to perpetuate continued marginalization and oppression, as well as what might be done about it. If you like the work and are able to contribute, please visit the patreon here: https://patreon.com/unstandardized

On this episode, host JPB Gerald brings back old friend Rob Sheppard to talk about their roles in professional organizations, specifically in the TESOL world, but also more broadly. Why are they always seemingly stuck in place, what can be done about them, and how can change be made within them if at all?  Please support the show on patreon if you are able! All donations are appreciated. Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with fellow NYCer and Bronx teacher Selena Carrión about the learning loss discourse, the re-open arguments, and exactly who has been leading the conversation, to the great detriment of many racialized students. If you are into the show and able to support, please donate to the patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized. Anything is appreciated!

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Dr. Elizabeth King about her research in Early Childhood Education on emotion language, but also we talk about the literature in that subfield and the general issues with ECE academia in general, because of course we do. It's a fun conversation about a topic that affects millions of children, and particularly so during this ongoing pandemic. If you are willing and able to offer support for the work, please do chip in over on patreon. Anything is appreciated, as this is a labor of love. https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald talks to guest Dr. Rachel Emas about her work in the field of sustainability and also her experience unlearning patterns that had rendered her harmful to her students when she began her current role in academia. We also talk a bit about "Captain Planet" and the issues with trying to make official academic policy responsible for racial justice. If you are able to contribute to the show, please consider donating to the patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald and guest Chu May Paing discuss, through the lens of the current situation in Burma, the way that academics and academia prefer to talk distantly about real issues without centering the people involved or actually attempting to provide real support. We're probably talking about you or your school! Please consider supporting the show on patreon if you enjoy the work and are able to do so: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

On this episode, host JPB Gerald brings back Dr. Caitlin Green to talk about some Very Online (and mostly male) Academics who just cannot stop shouting into the internet about wokeness, anti-racism, and, yes, as ever, cancel culture. At this point, this might well be an ongoing series! If you like the work and are able to support the show, please consider donating over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald and guest Ali Oats recount their similar but divergent experiences as students, one formally diagnosed with ADHD, one not but clearly so, one white and one Black, how these differences shaped their own narratives thus far, and what they had nonetheless had in common. If you like the work and are able to support the show, please consider donating: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald talks to his old friend Keith Stewart - a professional trivia host - about trivia, something they both love but which often reinforces white epistemology and preferences. We discuss what can be done to broaden the scope of asking questions at bars and parties. If you are able to support the work, please consider contributing at https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized. Thank you!

I kinda just wanted to do something fun, and consider I've spent way too much time watching that show, I came up with some ideas related to the topics I talk about on this show to discuss. It's actually more compelling than you think if you take a step back and look at it. So, on this episode, host JPB Gerald takes a critical look at the 90 Day Fiance and issues related to racism, language, American immigration, and the way the show lays bare the myth of American exceptionalism despite not meaning to at all. If you can support the show, please consider donating on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized Please message me @UnstandardizedE for transcripts!

On this episode, host JPB Gerald discusses the book "The Limits of Whiteness" with its author, Dr. Neda Maghbouleh. The book sheds light on an under-explored axis of racial categorization, specifically that of the Iranian diaspora, and the way whiteness factors into their lives. We also end up spiraling off into a really fun and informative conversation about whiteness, language, academic writing, and all sorts of stuff. Hope you enjoy it as much as we clearly did in recording it. If you are able to support the show on patreon, here's the link. Anything is much appreciated: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized If you would like a transcript of this episode, contact @UnstandardizedE and I'll email it to you.

Switching perspectives here, host JPB Gerald talks to Des Alvarez about her new career as a language teacher, her plans for the future in the field, and how it's been to begin work in 2020 of all years. Support the show if you are able to at the following link: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

Oh boy! Literally, because there are three men, but still. Scott Stillar and Dr. Vijay Ramjattan return to help host JPB Gerald envision a world where whiteness is no longer centered in ELT. It's quite an episode! If you like what you hear, consider supporting the show on patreon here: https://patreon.com/unstandardized. Every pledge is deeply appreciated! 

In this episode, host JPB Gerald discusses the brand new and vital book, "Radicalizing Literacies and Languaging," with authors Dr. Mandy Stewart and (returning guest) Dr. Ale Babino. The authors walk listeners through their methodology, the contents of the book, and the urgent call the action that their book represents for anyone interested in language and literacy research. Here's a link to the book (to be released in December of 2020): https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030561376 And remember, you can support this show on patreon if you are willing and able: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

First solo episode of the season! In this episode, host JPB Gerald reflects on how the racism he experienced, particularly his positioning as the One Black Friend, was actually tied to an implicit belief in eugenics held by his otherwise nice friends, and how such a belief is actually more common than one might think, even if people aren't likely to admit that oppressed groups should be literally eliminated. Support the show on patreon if you like it and can afford to: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

 In this episode, host JPB Gerald and guest Anar Parikh (@anarparikh) discuss the many issues with discrepancies in language access and the impact this has on minoritized communities, particularly relevant in a year like this one, of course. We also discuss the importance, and meaning, of publicly-engaged scholarship in the hellscape of 2020. Support the show on patreon if you can! Link for support is here: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

Spoilers ahead! Beware! Host JPB Gerald and guest Keisha Wiel dive into the many fascinating aspects of HBO's Lovecraft Country, which you really should go watch before you listen to this. If you like what you hear, consider supporting the show on patreon here: https://patreon.com/unstandardized. Every pledge is deeply appreciated!

In this meta-episode, JPB examines the reasons why he chooses to analyze whiteness in his research and scholarship, and mostly ends up being very critical of academia overall! I kinda... went off. Topics include whiteness, capitalism and his relationship to it, masculinity, the journal system, and a lot of other things. It's fun! Support the show on patreon if you can: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald discusses English Language Teaching and its conceptualization among the Midwestern American white working class. With his friend and fervent academic supporter, Dr. Nicole Pettitt (@nmpettitt). Support the show's patreon if you are interested and able to do so: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

We all rely on numbers to back up our points, right? And one of the ways we rely on quantitative statistics is to advance anti-racist and heteroglossic language goals, at least as critical scholars and educators. But who says the numbers we trust should be trusted? And how harmful are the supposedly neutral categories we rely on? In this very nerdy episode (that's a positive, people!), host JPB Gerald talks to Dr. Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo about her work on data within race, ethnicity, and language. It's fun. You should listen!  Episode focused on her article, citation here: Campbell-Montalvo, R. 2019. “Being QuantCritical of U.S. K-12 demographic data: using and reporting race/ethnicity in Florida Heartland Schools.” Race Ethnicity and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1679748 If you are willing and able to support the show on patreon, follow this link here: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In the Season Two premiere, host JPB Gerald reflects on the work he has engaged in this summer and then discusses the white hegemonic nonsense of the concept of 'cancel culture,' focusing on abusive and/or racist people with way too much power and money and how the discourse around them actually protects them. Second half of the episode focuses on Pinker and his abject nonsense. Featuring his friend and fellow language scholar, Dr. Caitlin M. Green (@caitlinmoriah). She was a co-author of this recent article on the whole Pinker mess: https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/005381. Also, if you are interested and able to do so, please support the show on its new patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/unstandardized

In this episode, host JPB Gerald combs through the entire first season of the show, including snippets from every single episode. Enjoy! We'll be back at the end of the summer with a show that has learned lessons and really found its legs. 

In this very special episode, host JPB Gerald and his special guest, AMT Gerald, discuss how these times are only "uncertain" for folks whose lives didn't already include housing instability, and delve into her career working in homeless services, "affordable" housing, what "homeless" actually means, and a lot of other things that make him feel very lucky to have found her.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald and guest Kelsey Swift discuss historical constructions of English and a lot of other things about the posible future ahead of us.

In this special episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Dr. Rebecca Shapiro and several of her students in Barbados on what they have learned about language and dialect in their just-concluded semester. Definitely a different episode from the others! 

Another week inside, another episode. This week, host JPB Gerald speaks to Dr. Ale Babino about the construction of bilingual education and dual language programs, the intersection of gifted and talented designations, the impact of whiteness on her career, and how language learners may be particularly impacted by this current traumatic interruption.

Joined by former guests Kelly Wright and Maureen Kosse, as well as Kelly Yoshida Nuttall in the background, this episode is a free-flowing conversation about "Karen," how it's NOT the n-word, why these non-slurs (insults, in fact) are equated to slurs, and what can be done about Karens.

In the next episode of this ongoing series, host JPB Gerald speaks with Dr. Betsy Sneller about the value of linguistic analysis in the present and future.

Host JPB Gerald reflects, alone, on his experiences being at arm's length for NYC's two decades of ongoing disasters, his love for the city, his gratitude and guilt, his realization that impresses different types of white people helps no one but them, and finding a purpose for the future.

In this 4th episode of an ongoing series (I really am going to try to keep it going as long as we're all inside), host JPB Gerald speaks with Chey Davis, Associate Professor of English. They discuss her teaching on race and racism, how analysis of racism and disability might evolve after our current time period, and the abject fiction of American mythologizing.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald and guest Dr. Mariam Durrani discuss her work in on anti-Muslim racism, feminist and public anthropology, American empire, and what, if we are lucky, we, as critical scholars, have to do during and after Covid. 

In this second episode of the self-isolation period, host JPB Gerald speaks with Dr. Abby Bajuniemi about her work at the intersection of tech and linguistics, a different sort of language discussion from our usual fare. Then they speak of the ways in which diversity and inclusion efforts fail, and academia in general in the uncertain future.

In the first installment of an impromptu series recorded during the early stages of NYC's self-isolation from Covid-19, host JPB Gerald speaks to Dr. Jessica Sierk about her research on niceness and whiteness, then asks for her take on what changes we might hope to see in how niceness and whiteness are constructed in the future that has been suddenly upended by the current crisis.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Jade Cintron about her experiences incorporating her experience with and passion for dramatic arts into her language teaching work. She speaks of her work in Spain navigating and what she brought back with her to build a language teaching career, with her theater background, her culture and language, and her racialization shaping her craft, her pedagogy, and ultimately, her advocacy.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald welcomes back Dr. Vijay Ramjattan to discuss another of his specialties, the topic of what constitutes "employability" and "professionalism," and how these concepts are, like everything else, constructed along racial lines.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald analyzes his theorized connections between ELT, racism, white fragility, and meritocratic ideologies, positing that antiracism in ELT will always struggle as long as meritocracy reigns.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Alice Kim about her experience as a fellow racialized ELT professional who has taught abroad and also, unlike the host, spent time teaching students in her home context who are the same racialization as she is. The discussion touches on the argument made by some that clients prefer racially majoritized teachers and some possible ways forward for the field. Mostly, though, the host and the guest share their experiences, good and bad, as racialized ELT professionals.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Brendan DeCoster about the concept, and troubling nature, of the "language of greater communication," and how this affects language policy in several different contexts. You will not be surprised to learn that it leads to oppression. Also we start by discussing how the concept of 'academic integrity' is wielded harmfully against international students.

In this special, personal episode, host JPB Gerald expounds upon his "problem of practice" upon entering his doctoral program, his research goals, and his hopes for refining a pedagogy he calls "heretical whiteness." This episode covers a lot of ground, but hopefully will push white listeners to question their faith in whiteness in every aspect of their lives and work. The question at hand is: can you be a great white teacher while whiteness exists in its current form? And if not, what is the path that will take us towards the dissolution of white supremacy?

In this episode, host JPB Gerald completes his conversation with Chasing Encounters podcast host Yecid Ortega. The first half of the conversation can be found on his podcast page (link it here!). They discuss some of the issues with the weak way "social justice" and "diversity" are used, racial tokenism, and the fecklessness of "white privilege" discussions. It's great, and you should listen!

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Maureen Kosse about the insidious ways white supremacy and the alt-right use language to lure people, what led to our current predicament, and where we might go from here. Ultimately, a necessary discussion about white racial identity.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald speaks with Kelly Wright about her article "Language and Discrimination: Generating Meaning, Perceiving Identities, and Discriminating Outcomes." Linguistic discrimination is everywhere, people!

Live presentation of the Altruistic Shield paper at NYS TESOL, 11/15/19. Yay!

In this episode, Scott Stillar joins JPB to discuss the concept of fluency and how it can be used as a judgement and a barrier.

An exploration of Ibram Kendi's conceptualization of 'cultural racism' via experiences of having linguistic dismissal of 'rap' used as a socially permissible means of denigrating blackness.

If you are in the field of language education, you know that native speakerism is a prevalent form of discrimination. But we've been talking about it forever and it continues to bedevil the field. In this episode, JPB and guest Dr. Parisa Mehran try to find a productive way forward on the issue.

In this slightly different episode, host JPB Gerald speaks to his experiences being classified as 'smart' from a young age and how that has often been placed in opposition to his status as Black.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald discusses accents with newly-minted PhD-holder Dr. Vijay Ramjattan, who has conducted considerable research on the topic. The dialogue focuses on how the word "accent" is used to marginalize and other, the best ways to describe one's accent or the accent of someone else, and the ways in which possessing certain accents mark racialized speakers as less valuable, with an eye towards finding a way to counteract this discrimination.

In this episode, host JPB Gerald and guest Lydia Villaronga discuss several acronyms within the field of language education, including ESL, ELL, TESOL, and others. Many of these acronyms seem harmless but serve primarly to marginalize and racialize, and in this conversation, these negative results are unpacked and pulled apart.

Welcome to Unstandardized English. In this inaugural episode, host JPB Gerald and guest Rob Sheppard discuss the word 'expat,' its meanings and implications, inclusions and exclusions. Ultimately, who is allowed to be considered an expat, and who isn't? What racial groups can be expats? Listen and find out!