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According to the national study conducted by Cochran-Smith & Fries (2005), the majority of teacher candidates in the U.S. are White middle-class women. While those from the U.S. who become TESOL teachers are also primarily White middle-class women, given the global demand for English, there is also a sizable number of TESOL teachers from international backgrounds (Braine, 1999; Lurda, 2005). As the current population entering the profession of language-teacher education is now beginning to differ from those in the past because of this international component, this seems to be a particularly significant moment to examine what discourses are currently operational that influence the direction and substance of teacher education programs where this notion of "civic culture voice" is encouraged. With this aim, the author uses her own experiences as a multilingual teacher educator of dual racial heritage to illustrate how the contemporary period has produced three areas of contradiction and tensions through widely held beliefs about community of practice, Black feminist perspectives, and intersections of oppression. These concepts emanate from feminist, Womanist, critical-race, and post-structural perspectives. While these concepts at times may be problematic, they are nevertheless directly relevant to current discourses circulating in the professional development of teachers and can contribute to enriching one's understanding of diverse voices in teacher education. In this article, the author would like to suggest examining the teacher educators' "voice" will contribute to open up dialogue about how discourses in teacher education need to be continuously scrutinized for the manner in which they produce teacher-knowledge and instill instructional practices.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/theresa_austin/16/