Resilient-whole: A new framework for content-based second language (L2) curriculum design and teaching at college

Abstract

The COVID19 pandemic, the economic crisis, and geopolitical concerns are weighing on the entire human life. Living in the era of change and uncertainty, as a second language (L2) educator and researcher, I start to think about and work on the new meaning of L2 education. In this paper, I propose a resilient-whole framework with the goal of transforming L2 curriculum into a more reactive, adaptive, diverse and inclusive, and sustainable one that possesses the power of cultivating L2 learners’ mind–body–world alignment throughout their language learning processes. A resilient mind, namely, the ability to navigate life, adapt to change, and learn through adversity, is considered to be essential to L2 learners’ success, not only in the academic fields but also in their future career and life. With a focus on resiliency, this paper demonstrates how L2 curriculum at the college level could achieve the goal by adopting a content-based language instructional approach to course design and teaching. Specifically, resiliency is discussed from the perspectives of content-language unit design, tasks, and projects for online teaching and learning, internal and external collaborations, assessment rubrics, and student advising. It is through tightening all these aspects together, with resiliency permeating into everyday practices, that the L2 classroom is further enriched and strengthened in the era of change. This article was published open access under a CC BY-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ .