“ They is me!”: Redefining “traditional” students through narratives of Black world language teachers

Abstract Professional fragmentation in world language (WL) teacher preparation makes advancing in language study prior to pre‐service teachers’ certification difficult. For Black world language teachers (BWLTs), this challenge increases as they face unique structural blockades, including the lack of access to early formal WL study or fiscal resources to enter US higher education. With 4.2% of WL teachers identifying as Black, the intricacies of their pathways and stubborn successes are underexplored, particularly as they apply to ethnic groups who become subsumed under the racial category of “black” upon entering the United States. Oral histories from 25 BWLTs analyzed through the frameworks of becoming Black and linguistic pushout offer exploratory data on “non‐traditional” pathways of WL study by learners racialized as Black. Their persistence toward language proficiency and professional success has implications for research, policy, and practice regarding how access, language, and success are conceptualized within and beyond formal schooling settings.