This study examined how novice teachers of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) apply their pedagogical language knowledge (PLK). The authors frame PLK as an essential contributor to teachers’ ability to support multilingual students’ language and literacy development, which in turn contributes to the enactment of humanizing pedagogies, because language and literacy skills enable engagement with meaningful content and full participation in schooling and society. Data sources include lesson observations and interviews with 11 ESOL teachers over the course of 3 years. Participants were observed drawing on their PLK to offer humanizing support for the language and literacy development of multilingual students through the following instructional practices: responding to common developmental language needs; promoting vocabulary development; prioritizing receptive and productive skills at the word, sentence, and discourse levels; and using students’ home language knowledge as a resource. The researchers share data that reveals how participants’ PLK informed their use of these instructional practices. These concrete examples offer a deeper understanding of how all teachers could develop and apply PLK to inform their enactment of humanizing pedagogies with multilingual students.
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