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* I would like to thank Stephanie Lindemann and Ute Römer for their guidance on this project. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my colleagues who participated in a discussion of, and contributed helpful feedback on, an earlier version of this manuscript during a meeting of the Critical Approaches to Language and Literacy research group at Georgia State University: Kris Acheson-Clair, Sarah Goodwin, Donna McRae, Nicole Pettitt, Paco Barron Serrano, and Stephen Skalicky. Finally, I would like to thank Language in Society editor Jenny Cheshire and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the article. All remaining errors are my own.
INTRODUCTION
The 'nonnative' English speaker as instructor: Language, race, and ideology
Nonnative English speakers (NNESs) serving as instructors at institutions of higher education in the United States (US) have long found themselves in the midst of controversy. From the perspective of many undergraduate students, many NNESs lack the linguistic competence to serve as instructors, and their 'inadequate' language strains classroom communication. Complaints have often targeted NNESs serving as international teaching assistants (ITAs) and have been reported by a number of surveys of undergraduate students (Berdie, Anderson, Wenberg, & Price 1976; Fox & Gay 1994; Halleck & Moder 1995; Plakans 1997; Fitch & Morgan 2003). In addition, Villarreal (2013) found that undergraduate students had similar complaints about the language of NNESs serving as faculty (e.g. professors rather than ITAs). In particular, Villarreal reports that the students he interviewed frequently discussed their instructors' accents. For example, one participant claimed that "everywhere you go, everyone's always talking about how, in the Math Department, there's so many foreign teachers, it's so hard to understand them" (2013:19). Furthermore, the students reported that these ostensibly linguistic difficulties led them either to drop NNESs' courses or to avoid registering for them.
Research into language ideology offers an enlightening perspective on the controversies surrounding NNESs. Subtirelu (2014:121), citing Woolard & Schieffelin (1994), defines language ideology as:
the networks of beliefs that language users hold, either tacitly or overtly, about language and its assumed relation to other aspects in their environments, especially other individuals and social groups, which stem either from explicit teaching or implicit socialization. Owing to their connections between language...