social-justice
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- PaperRELC Journal22 Jul 2026
Translanguaging for critical multilingual language awareness: Classroom activities for socially just language education
Jennifer Burton, Shakina Rajendram
Introduces a Translanguaging for Critical Multilingual Language Awareness (TL-for-CMLA) approach, operationalized through two concrete pedagogical activities: multilingual versions of Little Red Riding Hood for metalinguistic awareness and multilingual spoken word poetry for identity exploration. The activities challenge target-language-only assumptions and engage learners critically and affectively, aiming to foreground power, racialization, and linguistic hierarchies in language education.
Original abstract
This article introduces a Translanguaging for Critical Multilingual Language Awareness (TL-for-CMLA) approach and illustrates how it can be operationalized through concrete pedagogical activities in language teacher education and additional language classrooms. The paper argues for an explicitly critical orientation that foregrounds power, racialization, and linguistic hierarchies rather than treating multilingualism as a neutral resource. The purpose of this innovation in practice article is to present two classroom activities that bridge critical language ideologies and everyday teaching practice in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Kindergarten-Grade 12 (K-12) classrooms with multilingual learners. The first activity uses multilingual versions of Little Red Riding Hood to develop metalinguistic awareness and challenge target-language only assumptions. The second activity centers multilingual, identity focused spoken word poetry to engage learners affectively, critically, and multimodally with questions of language, identity, and belonging. Together, these activities present adaptable examples, reflection prompts, and underlying rationales that can be applied across proficiency levels and educational contexts. This paper contributes theoretically by clarifying TL-for-CMLA and pedagogically by offering adaptable activities that support socially just language education.
- PaperTESOL Journal8 Jul 2026
Refusing the Feeling Rules: Arts‐Based Autoethnography as Emotional Resistance in Language Teacher Education
Jialei Jiang, Wenxi Schwab
This study uses arts-based autoethnography to explore the emotional labor of a raciolinguicized TESOL educator navigating systemic inequities in a US post-secondary program. Digital artworks and narrative reflections reveal how emotions like shame and anger, shaped by native-speakerism and institutional feeling rules, can be mobilized as critical affective literacy. Findings indicate arts-based inquiry provides a pedagogical approach for TESOL educators to challenge systemic injustice and foster equitable pedagogies.
Original abstract
This study employs arts‐based autoethnography to examine the emotional labor of Wenxi, a raciolinguicized TESOL educator who navigates systemic inequities in a predominantly white post‐secondary education program in the United States. Drawing on digital artworks and narrative reflections created through an arts‐based workshop, the study explores how emotions such as shame, anger, and disheartenment can be mobilized as forms of critical affective literacy. Wenxi's narratives reveal how experiences of native‐speakerism, racial marginalization, power inequality, and institutional feeling rules have shaped her professional identity and emotional struggles. Yet, through art making, these emotions are reframed as resources for critical resistance and reflection. The findings suggest that arts‐based inquiry offers a robust pedagogical approach in teacher education by creating collective spaces where TESOL educators navigate and challenge systemic injustice. By fusing critical affective literacy with arts‐based practices, this study demonstrates the potential of emotional resistance to disrupt normative professional discourses and to foster more equitable, justice‐oriented TESOL pedagogies.
- PaperELT Journal19 Mar 2026
Social Justice in Language Education: Taking Action, A. Biel and F. Maria Esleben (eds.)
Johanna Ennser-Kananen
This edited volume by Biel and Esleben explores practical approaches to integrating social justice into language education, urging educators to move beyond theory toward actionable change.