Neoliberalism views the free market and global capitalist expansion as sacrosanct, a position that is undergirded by a positivistic epistemology privileging individual autonomy and free will. This type of rationalist thought also underlines institutional discourses that define the ideal and “normal” learner as autonomous, perpetuates a status quo of transmission instruction characterized by decontextualized, unidirectional knowledge transfer, and reinforces traditional notions of language as value-free, static systems—ideas that ultimately reinscribe ineffective and oppressive teaching approaches for English learners (ELs). Moreover, although current sociocultural/sociolinguistic research views learning as a fundamentally relational process occurring through participation in contextualized, social interaction, these principles tend to be overshadowed by neoliberal discourses to which teachers have been conditioned. In this essay, we argue to appropriate a pedagogy grounded in sociocultural/sociolinguistic perspectives, teachers of ELs must first experience a fundamental shift in teaching perspective—a decentering of the neoliberal subject. We employ sociocultural and Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts to “decenter” teachers as autonomous actors who transmit language to ELs toward conceptualizing teachers as enmeshed in multiple sociocultural/linguistic networks. By considering the decentering of teachers, ELs, and the teaching of ELs, we contend a decentering of the teacher-subject embraces a pedagogy of “coming into composition” with students and views language as always “becoming,” constantly changing with time and space.More than a decade into the 21st century, educators, activists and scholars continue to advocate for school policies and teaching practices that will foster social justice and eradicate entrenched inequalities crossing economic, racial, gender, and linguistic lines. While the volume of research calling for, and documenting, social justice and critically focused approaches continues to expand, educational policies undergirded by a neoliberal ideology and agenda have also proliferated (Gabbard & Atkinson, 2008; Henderson & Hursh, 2014; Hursh, 2001). Neoliberalism, an economic philosophy that positions the free market and global capitalist expansion as sacrosanct (Harvey, 2005), influences diverse facets of U.S. public schooling, including teacher evaluation, teaching practices, and school funding. Neoliberal forces are predicating on undermining goals of educational and societal equity while proclaiming to advance them (Davies & Bansel, 2007; Sleeter, 2008). Although all students may be impacted by current neoliberal policies and the market-driven logic that accompanies them, we argue that ELs, an already marginalized and underserved group within U.S. public schools, are among the groups that suffer the most.While researchers have recently begun to address the harmful consequences of neoliberalism with respect to the larger educational policy sphere (e.g., Hursh, 2007; Sleeter, 2008; Zeichner, 2010) and its relationship to pedagogy, scholars have failed to examine its impact on the educational experiences offered to ELs. Neoliberalism is informed by a positivistic epistemology that positions individual autonomy and objectivity as givens. while disregarding power inequalities and the overt and tacit effects of prejudice, discrimination and racism (Russom, 2012). In this view, ELs’ histories, resources, challenges and struggles are inconsequential in relation to the structure of schooling and the assumed meritocracy of the educative experience (Valdes, 2001). These thought patterns underlie institutional discourses that define the ideal and “normal” learner as autonomous (Allan, 2011). They perpetuate a status quo of transmission instruction characterized by decontextualized, unidirectional knowledge transfer. Such rationalist thought also shapes traditional notions of language as a value-free, static system, which, in turn, informs dominant second language teaching approaches, such as emphasizing grammar and vocabulary with the aim of “correctness” (Valdes, Kibler, & Walqui, 2014). These prevailing pedagogical notions contradict current sociocultural and sociolinguistic research, which views language learning as a fundamentally relational process occurring through participation in contextualized, social interaction (Ellis, 2008; Gee, 2014b; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Vygotsky, 1978). According to these researchers, because language is constantly evolving and inherently attached to context (Gee, 1988; van Lier, 2004), language learning should focus on collective communicative action with attention to holistic meaning-making. While sociocultural principles are ostensibly taught to many teacher candidates during their preservice learning, their are overshadowed by the neoliberal which teachers are to have & this we a of the neoliberal of language learning for ELs and This pedagogy current research, sociocultural of learning, and of as in the on we that to teaching practices with a sociocultural/sociolinguistic learning a decentering of the autonomous, neoliberal is language learning pedagogy, teachers, and we employ Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts & sociocultural in to an to the and of second language teaching as a autonomous process that is Such a shift the of teaching ELs and the fundamentally relational of learning, the multiple positions of teachers and ELs, and these and linguistic the language learning process In the that we first an of the neoliberal language pedagogical by a of the to to a a pedagogy of “coming into composition” We a decentering of the teacher and ELs We with for teacher and the we with we of and experience in the teacher and These a and are to the and of the we for teachers and students as as the that in the of teachers in neoliberal the in considering the challenges and experiences of ELs and teachers by the in an of in the by and in by in the neoliberalism to a current of ideology that the of individual and a free According to neoliberalism be to social to an power and in the of the global of the and of neoliberalism the of an and the individual the social (Harvey, & In in of neoliberal that such as individual and (Harvey, in as and public such as and the the global of neoliberal and have while and social are and 2001). global and have the logic neoliberalism in the of global that is as aim of such a is for that and and are the and of of neoliberal thought including public a of to a of public that been by & Hursh, 2014). educational policies in the the of and (e.g., with for including ELs, of in and for teachers to (e.g., with to the which school with expansion of and (e.g., the of public school while for & these is a decontextualized, and ostensibly logic emphasizing a & Hursh, Although this logic is in educational such as emphasizing also informs the dominant and pedagogy of This of also as be to the thought of the (Gabbard & Atkinson, 2008). in is the that are the of the by their for This logic a fundamental that as the of notions of static knowledge and autonomous with neoliberal of and underlie traditional of pedagogy positions and the teacher as an autonomous who a of to students with knowledge In this learning is a fundamentally individual that as a of to and in 2012). Moreover, the ideal learner is as who and and of While pedagogical to the of in the current characterized by the of the neoliberal of these practices and the may perpetuate is to entrenched pedagogical current research in pedagogy and language learning learning, and second language as fundamentally These fundamental in the language learning, and ELs are have been by the educational research for (e.g., Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Walqui, 2012). many teacher have transmission views to of pedagogy grounded in social & & in & 2004), and concepts such as learning, learning, learning, and learning have in the vocabulary of the educational research and teaching have these dominant patterns of in which have entrenched in the current neoliberal Although attention been to the and that and power that teachers, and in the epistemology for the 2007; & & this the that current linguistic and pedagogical have their into the of is educational experiences and that foster learning for ELs, we a fundamental decentering of the dominant neoliberal of on notions of (e.g., learning as an inherently individual and objectivity (e.g., and language as and are of neoliberalism in 2012). of for economic and and with into and have been by the of In the the of and as to the that be a & is by the on This the and of a of the the as on within the of the & for of for and a group of that to attention on the students to the and for of for and In a of the of the a into teachers to students to in the of are multiple the neoliberal logic in the that is which is within the of the and the of the is to that by the of the teacher the a to we are to as an the of context in learning also that all students a with which to of in to patterns of and in the ELs are to this to the are to be in the of the They will an into the with to as as in this is & 2012). knowledge and in to the in the and the by the This the that be in the within the interaction and Walqui, & 2014; & as is by the is to fundamentally the practices of teachers of ELs, we the epistemology such as fundamental decentering of of that the to the multiple and the to the Such a decentering in collective than individual of as relational than autonomous of as a and of as and multiple of knowledge and than (e.g., the of In for this decentering of the dominant we that such as sociocultural and and for teaching ELs in we that of and social as a decentering to the sociocultural by second language researchers and the and them In we first an of sociocultural principles to second language We a of and concepts to decentering language is a of that been by second language researchers in & Thorne, 2006; van Lier, These scholars argue that language its a process of learning, and as the by and who have in (e.g., & multiple notions to language learning which as social interaction 1978). with the second language are to language also on the social as a of of in by and 1978). This that of language will will linguistic practices and of the second language into their linguistic and be to in and as a of learning, by 1978). that students have a as a of to language to in social & Walqui, 2012). Although research that students with is to a second language in with a sociocultural Lier, Vygotsky, that to the language with students will the to and learning be as in participation while first students may be in linguistic time will actors & while sociocultural is within teaching we that its impact on teaching in and for teaching ELs been In teaching the their of we have failed to fundamentally the neoliberal thought patterns in that the in this also informs school and dominant pedagogical and second language sociocultural of learning will continue to have a impact on to a we for and in that the we to & of the of and with the privileging of the autonomous individual and knowledge by and concepts to the and patterns of and to thought as because its and that of the to into of the In to the a a thought that is of that are to and always in the focus in is than and process than focus on be as the is constantly changing to the is a that as its into into is an of a a of teacher and students histories, the discourses privileging of English the that students are and and on 2012). of these to and influences the of the the teaching practices that are and the learning that 2014). In this the of teaching be to the teacher the of learning be to an individual learning and teaching are of into into relationship and with and of teaching and learning, are through the and occurring in an and in and as are collective that be to the of their & This with and sociocultural of learning as a fundamentally social first occurring teacher and in the in the of is the of a that and and on the of and such as and have as an to of is a and a and to that to and within a as its 2008). are of of are through through and and through into the of the of of a in and of a in a a process that is & a of in a that a to learning and that with sociocultural By of learning as we as a process that an as a collective that be to its and as a for also be to language learning, which teachers to the language process by language as in a of teachers language that may be an is and because and of as linguistic a second the of the of the of a current of be by teachers as a of the a teacher linguistic practices, into with them to the into with to in through This is in in the the of the in in and on their a of the that to recently a on the and to ELs, to the of a in by be to students and which the the to Although and to be the in to views by a to While of students to who such the students and the to them that students to the for While students that in the to the of the the than an of than an of the of individual to equity and social justice within a larger in the U.S. these in the of a a students in practices that and a of that examine the of a than the as a and the teacher the of students to to their learning their and that by learning for and for in the this a and global for equity as the of than a of the of and a that the context of the have students their to the to and and dominant discourses of teachers perpetuate the of teachers as of and in relation to ELs, of of the teacher the of the in of a with students who and the of the of by In the neoliberal position teachers as of knowledge and who in an of teacher and students with the teacher in a unidirectional Such a the of power and ELs as learning as as are to and to the that the teacher of the teacher-subject the of this According to a of teaching teachers are in the of that to and is among and school and that language and this the that learning through a of and that language is the teacher to language learner are teacher a to a second students with a static of the teacher is in a linguistic with students and language this an of language as action & Walqui, 2012). language is a of within a (Gee, language is and constantly to than the teacher language with students than to them in a In this language is always a fundamentally relational of into of the teacher and for and the of the students and linguistic and resources, and and to learning and concepts sociocultural such as the and through of these pedagogical of into the as in educational the is as an of for the and of students Walqui, & in the through a interaction teacher and students in which knowledge and learning Walqui, Although the that an a is for this sociocultural have the of to with with and Lier, While the multiple of for the of this we focus on the of the a a in the language and learning experiences of ELs, a pedagogical to the learner already and to with the language & & the process of into teachers of the to language and of such a pedagogical the and of the students and the is in this and of the students already and the that are on the of By this of the teacher on the and these as a to with in the of this the teacher the of the and the of language and in and interaction with the In this the focus on in second language is the linguistic the teacher and of into the and knowledge and in and also This in to such as the of a of language as an communicative within the of the and knowledge as teacher to of teaching as a and the teacher the the of the and of the and teacher the and of that students the of and teaching & & 2008; & These a which to language and learning experiences of the have experiences and language to as to a and to language and to and By have a pedagogy of into an and linguistic we that teachers of ELs “decenter” neoliberal by a pedagogy of into to language and communicative with students in the This the of the interaction among of the and that language is and through the linguistic of students as as the teachers, and language on than to the language with in the language the teacher the students to the including language to their linguistic and communicative teacher embraces this linguistic and and them in the of influences that informs a pedagogy of into This is in to the neoliberal of language as a that must be in to second language In teachers language in and of as a of and language as in neoliberal ELs and the of teacher as of the dominant language are fundamentally by this of the learning and teaching and on and to the to the While that this to a by the that in as to a to the as in as of this must be of the thought the concepts of and While the of of the the the teacher to and examine the and the as a to a the to be as as of that the them of that their have to these to that a to already them, to focus on the and on the to the and to of to these and in a to into the by learning knowledge of and the to struggles in to in the the these and while the to to the in this a of the experience of an in a school that linguistic and resources, while to teaching that into the of to the of such a system, including the of an that English as the language and which in the through of teachers and students & & 2011). In the of teachers to ELs, which to the of of teaching language and as as perpetuates views of ELs & 2008; & 2014). these to schooling experiences that reinscribe patterns of and also to a process through which the first in 2006; teachers are to in a pedagogy of into to foster and language a decentering of the dominant discourses ELs is views of the language learner as a who is English with the of a must be in of ELs as multiple and linguistic within that multiple influences and Such a shift attention to the multiple and of individual ELs, also to the of that impact their in schools, as as the of and decentering the dominant of ELs language learning as a of and that toward the linguistic of the than as a a teacher and autonomous that a of English also language is an that be is an in which multiple to a communicative of & Moreover, than by linguistic and in English and language is van Lier, the of language is as students their linguistic and with a linguistic & researchers have that this process in the learning of a linguistic that is constantly & This is a of the a This linguistic the language also the of the ELs & 2014). In this the and language are always a in a of linguistic which the neoliberal of the autonomous students as in a unidirectional relationship with the teacher and with the English language as fundamentally be to the facets that the of an to the linguistic we facets for the of decentering the neoliberal ELs, all the context with and as of are in to of their for ELs, these facets are as in and to the and linguistic by and in & students also with teachers through knowledge and linguistic while for ELs that must be & van Lier, while students as that with of the school to their ELs are as fundamentally This to a context that is fundamentally to ELs their linguistic and and perpetuates a this teachers that ELs experience social and through and the of knowledge and linguistic that may be to and students are as of the with which ELs are to This and is into the for the educative and linguistic of all ELs. than ELs as who must be to into the teachers and the multiple and of ELs as of the that be with all of that ELs are second language learners who must be by their teachers toward in the process of within the of the with their teachers, and as as is including the and the dominant language of this the of teacher the that and a pedagogy of into the of have a of that have into the context have with educative for all the of teaching and learning, been to knowledge and that of have been to the with as to its in the and in have been to knowledge of of equity and have been with in In have been to in a with to examine and of in Such a pedagogical an aim of social justice this should be as ELs as the a to language and focused on and to decentering of ELs and as to the that and within the context and and linguistic While a neoliberal of learning focus on the of English language and that decentering ELs attention to the among and context that influences students this which focus on language learning as an than a of in the of and ELs are to and and teachers and educational actors to the of all within the and and of language learning, sociocultural linguistic that of language and that ELs in of learning their second this the is to with and multiple an that dominant In this decentering as a the neoliberal to ELs of their and linguistic in of dominant and of and this the language is appropriate as a the be to all students who with diverse of language in of the is of for the educative and linguistic of these students is the of their linguistic which learning English as the language of school to English as is and in and in social decentering of the the of the that teachers and ELs and the in second language on the linguistic of these students and the for than the of the of a individual who language sphere to foster the and of social justice This shift the of the ELs, all students as by that language is a that is for in (Gee, than a communicative toward the of a an to among that positions all students to the linguistic of all their linguistic is a and that all of the a that fundamentally of ELs. the decentering of second language learning, the teacher and ELs an to of social a and school of and for all of the school this we have that traditional notions of second language learning neoliberal including the of language learning as a the of the teacher as autonomous of and the as a individual These ELs to learning and must be In we the that learning is an autonomous that is a process of into the teacher and students in collective linguistic as of a larger to to a fundamental decentering of the epistemology and that is as we for teacher and research that this by a to second language in as and many of the in this have been by the teacher for a of sociocultural social notions of learning Vygotsky, 1978). teacher pedagogical grounded in of social and the logic and knowledge and knowledge these to as in and by the and discourses of schooling in the the neoliberal discourses privileging and in teachers of ELs, teacher must to the of the of knowledge that teachers already and the neoliberal logic of of these are tacit and must be and the traditional notions of language learning this address these we that epistemology and must of the teacher and the of the neoliberal of schooling that into must be a epistemology and may a considering that teacher have been & we are teachers to their views on and in their their epistemology and We are them to learning and language learning in that are by the and in the autonomous teachers that contradict their learning in teacher and is that these which are to to ELs, will be by teachers on teachers must have to these to in language learning an of the in which school and discourses also contradict the of sociocultural These be as and of to the principles of sociocultural into and with and teacher educators, while in a may the to learning & are by in practices that are to them and that the of their their in as and their sociocultural concepts such as are in teacher research that the by which teachers and students in the and by which language to that pedagogical into as we are to on the of and of this research must be research the language learning research been and research for (Ellis, & 2014; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Walqui, that the that language as a of to in as researchers have (e.g., van Lier, 2004), these for ELs and their teachers have within the of While and are a knowledge We must to these to the of teachers and in the research of a knowledge for teaching ELs that linguistic research and the process as of be a toward this of teachers, researchers, teacher and scholars is in a to a pedagogy of into to ELs and all students in a with students and who with them on an to experiences which to of a with the that school in and in first which as a in learning that and students as as to the of English as their to a of and in language to Although and to to in that an who and that a experience challenges in in the multiple that to the by students knowledge of the and have their and and the with them as and as of the first a a time to that and students to their to a and their a in to While of to the to in the English language who linguistic as the students their first language as in the learning of their to a of to and all because for their the the because students a larger students their of them to larger of equity and the and that of social to to be that the in of which to in the to the of in the and the a that students to the to the of to the and that be to to the as students for the a second time with a that while of the language in be by the of equity and knowledge of the context of the and the of be of the an in the of influences on teaching and is that the of neoliberalism will in the is that the of and the logic of dominant of pedagogy and their will be by concepts such as and for ELs and their teachers, a pedagogy of into an educative that dominant of their and This decentering language and teachers and students Although this is into second language learning, teachers and students we that a pedagogy of into of these as that as a to the neoliberal in the of ELs attention to the interaction of these and a than considering them in the the of knowledge which we have and that may of teachers and students in a neoliberal as of a a larger pedagogy of into the of sociocultural and in to into ELs’ the neoliberal logic of educative and researchers, teacher educators, teachers, students and school their as in a by into approaches to teaching and learning for ELs be and the tacit neoliberal logic to collective of all these have to educative experiences that are and for teachers and ELs.