Agents of change: Reimagining curriculum and instruction in world language classrooms through social justice education

Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones: Understanding and Integrating Social Justice in Chinese Language Class

“…Another noteworthy study was done by Wassell et al. (2019), who investigated and presented the supports and impediments that shaped world language teachers’ agency to enact social justice education. In particular, their case study analyzed the dialectical relationship between agency and structure and reported their findings from three categories: the professional community, students’ perspectives and contributions, and the curriculum and curricular resources.…”

“…Despite growing examples of research in teacher agency, there is a void in studies of teacher agency in world language classrooms and contexts. Wassell et al (2019) discovered "no studies that explicitly examined teacher agency in a U.S. K-12 world language context" (p. 266); therefore, they conducted an interpretive multiple case study to investigate 12 world language teachers on their agency in incorporating social justice into their curriculum and instruction. Their study offered a significant contribution to advance the research of teacher agency in relation to social justice and provided an important example for the current study; however, the participants in their study were teachers of Spanish, Latin, Portuguese, and French-other historically less commonly taught languages, such as Chinese, were not explored.…”

“…Their study focused on one English-as-a-foreignlanguage (EFL) teacher from Chile and navigated her teacher agency through a complex combination of teacher purpose, competence, autonomy, and reflexivity, as well as taking into consideration the influence from micro-, meso-, and macrolevel factors. Another noteworthy study was done by Wassell et al (2019), who investigated and presented the supports and impediments that shaped world language teachers' agency to enact social justice education. In particular, their case study analyzed the dialectical relationship between agency and structure and reported their findings from three categories: the professional community, students' perspectives and contributions, and the curriculum and curricular resources.…”

“…To further understand the constituents of social justice in the context of world language education, a growing number of researchers have contributed instrumental scholarship in the field. Some offered guidelines in examining the multifaceted nature of language learning and teaching (Douglas Fir Group, 2016; Kramsch, 2014), some presented what social justice looked like in language classrooms (Pantić, 2015; Randolf & Johnson, 2017), whereas others have investigated teachers’ positioning in justice‐orientation work (Maddamsetti, 2021; Wassell et al., 2019; Wesely et al., 2021). The existing scholarship underscores the importance of this topic and provides essential groundwork; meanwhile, these scholars have also pointed to the scarcity of studies and called for more research focused on a wider diversity of languages.…”

Diversity and inclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse students in K‐12 Chinese language education

“…Certainly, world language classrooms are spaces in which students can begin the process of learning the target language and gaining some degree of familiarity with the culture of the people who speak that language. Further, it is possible that the lack of studies on CLD students in Chinese language education does not mean that Chinese curriculum design does not address the needs of CLD students, as well as the broader issues of social justice (e.g., Glynn et al, 2018; Wassell et al, 2019); however, research is needed to better understand how issues of social justice are integrated into Chinese language education programs, and how equity, diversity, and inclusion are addressed, as well as the opportunities that CLD students are afforded to learn Chinese. Congruent with this research agenda, Chinese language educators must also engage in such critical conversations about diversity and equity, and come to view Chinese language classrooms as sites where students become critical and reflective learners about the target language and their own language.…”