From deficit-based teaching to asset-based teaching in higher education in BANA countries: cutting through ‘either-or’ binaries with a heteroglossic plurilingual lens

Although people may readily refer to Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. as Anglophone countries, recent demographic and sociolinguistic profiles of these countries indicate that they are actually both Anglophone and multilingual, and in some of their cities, even more multilingual than Anglophone. Recent research also indicates that when plurilingual approaches to teaching and learning were tried out in these settings challenges arose due to the ‘either-or’ binary thinking often found in institutional policies and among some instructors. In this paper, the rich semiotic practices and repertoires of migrant and international students are discussed to call for a shift from a deficit model to an asset model of teaching. Some possible ways to break through these ‘either-or’ binaries are offered through using a heteroglossic, plurilingual lens.