For adult English language learners, the English language classroom provides a space for students to examine cultural as well other identities. However, discussions often center on racial, rather than sexual identities. In addition, attention to how adult English language instructors engage in classroom practices that focus on sexual identities is often limited. This article examines how adult educators in English language classrooms feel regarding the inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer (LGBQ) topics and materials into their curriculum and instruction. Through a web-based survey, teachers described their beliefs, practices, and challenges in creating lessons and responding to student questions in ways that broke down heteronormativity in the adult English language classroom. Findings add to the limited knowledge of how teachers in post-secondary, English language classrooms create and support a culturally responsive learning environment regarding sexual identities.

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What does it mean to queer the L2 classroom and why does it matter? Building on inclusive pedagogical approaches, this paper considers what queering looks like/sounds like/feels like in the context of two case study classrooms where language teachers learned about Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) methods in a novice Mandarin language context. Data include recorded videos and transcriptions, focus groups, fieldnotes, and survey responses. We analyze practice from these two workshops for the ways gender and sexuality were addressed in the teacher education classroom. Through queer analysis, we discovered that the most fully embodied student engagement was related to disruptions in what might be expected in both form and content. As TPRS teacher educators widened critical agendas beyond queer characters in classroom stories, they included nonnormative L2 approaches that were humorous, surprising, and inclusive of translanguaging as well as pop up connections to languages and cultures in change. This study suggests that L2 teacher education from a queer perspective offers teachers and learners opportunities to deconstruct and question what is conceived to be normal and instead imagine languages and pedagogies for what is possible, equitable, and inclusive.

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