Re‐envisioning the ESOL classroom through a virtues‐based curriculum: Contributions to critical dialogic education

Abstract

AbstractEnglish for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classrooms for recently arrived immigrant English learners are important contexts to help students acquire language skills and adapt to the host country’s social norms. In the United States, resources on how to help these learners navigate moral and cultural norms expected in the school system are almost nonexistent, and there is limited research on this topic. Framed in critical dialogic education (Kibler, Valdés, & Walqui, 2020), this study addressed this gap by examining one ESOL teacher’s implementation of her self‐designed virtues‐based curriculum and how she negotiated classroom interactions with one of her refugee‐background students. Data included fieldnotes from observations, interviews, and classroom artifacts. Findings reveal that the teacher adopted critical and dialogic approaches to implementing her curriculum, creating opportunities for the student to assume the role of a legitimate partner in classroom talk. More importantly, he engaged in critical dialogic interactions not only with teachers or peers, but with his own dynamic beliefs, critically interrogating these beliefs and his perceptions of the world and the inequalities in it. The author presents theoretical and pedagogical implications for how critical dialogic education can facilitate students’ academic and social adjustment in ESOL contexts.