An Autoethnographic Account of a Thangmi Girl’s Struggles and Resilience in Becoming an English Teacher

Abstract

This research study focuses on deepening our understanding of an Indigenous woman's, more specifically, a Thangmi woman’s, English language learning journey by exploring her painful and gainful experiences of English language learning and teaching, concentrating on childhood memories, education, employment, and careers. In doing this, this research study explores how an Indigenous woman evolved into English Language Education and what challenges she faced and overcame before becoming an English Teacher. The study explores the personal and professional navigation of a Thangmi girl in becoming an English Language teacher amidst the Indigenous and highly marginalized community. This study employed qualitative research methods, such as reflective narratives and analysis of educational experiences, to explore the evolution in learning and teaching of the English language. The research questions addressed are: How have I evolved as a daughter from a marginalized Thangmi community in English language learning and teaching? What difficulties did I go through, or am I still facing in the voyage to becoming an English language teacher? How did I overcome the many hurdles in the English language learning and teaching journey? I started by sequencing my experiences according to the sequential order of their occurrence, highlighting only those incidents that seemed relevant to learning and teaching in ELT. Thus, I supported these experiences with research studies and analyzed the data to combine with the literature. Different insights are derived from reflection on my experiences, extensive literature review, and engagement in the identified transformative learning and critical social theories. Thus, efforts finally resulted in meaningful theoretical implications and a comprehensive conclusion. My reflections indicate that while awareness among parents of the value of education is on the increase, the life prospects for a non-indigenous child and that of an Indigenous child are very different. Economic hardship, social barriers, and linguistic barriers continue to impede most Indigenous children from achieving academic results. I had to face many difficulties. To earn my livelihood, I used to work in other individuals’ agriculture fields. Though it helped me to some extent, there is still a limitation to getting extra learning opportunities. As an Indigenous female, I was confronted by a series of social barriers: humiliation, bullying, and persistent questioning of my ethnic status, which hindered my acquisition of the English language directly or indirectly. My challenges at school, college, and university are memories I cherish today. They were years of struggles. I now reflect on my journey as a transformative learner, which were golden years. These formative moments helped shape growth, resilience, and commitment to learning. The research study opens pathways toward critical reflection on the interplay among education, identity, and systemic inequality for learners and educators who live in the margins.