SELS Dialogues Journal Volume 3 Issue 1

Pedagogy and Critical Thinking
Homi Bhabha’s “Third Space” in ESL Classes
by Sohana Z. Haque
Despite the growth of English as a Second Language
(ESL) services, increasing numbers of students appear
to suffer from a variety of problems and obstacles
when transitioning from an ESL class to a mainstream
learning environment or into their career fields in a
new country.
As I have experienced in the college environment,
this happens because in adult ESL classes students
often struggle with a crisis of identity, as they cannot
always find a sense of belonging with the new culture
and country. The learners encounter difficulties with
socialization, communication, and engaging in their
academics. When students are in new situations,
they frequently feel like outcasts because of the
unquestioned cultural norms that are part of the
society they live in and due to the colonialist influences
that still exist.
In the name of internalization, the situation imposes a
western set of norms and values that make ‘other ways
of being and thinking’ less fitting. Macpherson (2006)
clearly expresses that “These standards are initiatives
to propagate modern Western norms as educational
outcomes and best practices that have been arrived
at without reference to alternative cultural practices
or epistemologies” (p. 75). These realities cause
frustration and lead students towards poor academic or
career performance.
The need for room to breathe culturally is required
for the students. Creating this breathing space could
work like tonic, and here I propose that such a room
is created by inviting the cultures of origin and that
of Canada (in this case) into conversations with one
another. Bhabha (1994) refers to this dialogue as “the
Third space”, which are “hybrid spaces that bring people
together”. Again, while discussing Bhabha’s concept of
third space, Yatta Kanu (2002) refers to Third Space
“as the place for the construction of identities that
are neither one nor the other” (p. 55). Therefore, in
the struggle of the newcomers of the ESL classes, the
concept of third space mentioned by Homi Bhabha
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