'I Am 'THAT' Refugee!' Raising Critical Multilingual Language Awareness through Spoken Word Poetry with Refugee-Background Learners
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| Title: | 'I Am 'THAT' Refugee!' Raising Critical Multilingual Language Awareness through Spoken Word Poetry with Refugee-Background Learners |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Jennifer Burton (ORCID |
| Source: | TESOL Quarterly: A Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages and of Standard English as a Second Dialect. 2025 59(4):2179-2205. |
| Availability: | Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 27 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Refugees, Poetry, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, English for Academic Purposes, Foreign Countries, College Students, Transformative Learning, Student Experience, Attachment Behavior, Affective Behavior, Personal Autonomy, Art Education, Self Concept, Racism, Race |
| Geographic Terms: | Canada |
| DOI: | 10.1002/tesq.70002 |
| ISSN: | 0039-8322 1545-7249 |
| Abstract: | Transformative learning in education requires pedagogical change to challenge where knowledge is situated and dislodge the unmerited privileges associated with conventional practices of language and emotion in classrooms. Responding to this call, this paper centers the experiences of two learners with refugee backgrounds and explores how a spoken word poetry curriculum implemented in a language classroom raises critical awareness related to language, identity, race/racism, and belonging. Data were collected from course materials, interviews, journals, and artifacts and were analyzed to examine how emotional attachments connect to people and experiences. By positioning students' lives and languages at the center of critical language learning, spoken word poetry cultivated learner agency, and dialogic engagement. Participants disrupted deficit narratives of refugees as illegitimate and reclaimed their right to be heard, seen and felt, first and foremost, as humans. This study makes a pedagogical contribution to literature by highlighting the implications of integrating spoken word poetry into language classrooms and emphasizes the relationship between emotions and language. The findings will be of interest to educators and researchers interested in disrupting conventional language practices that allow students to resist rather than reproduce forms of oppression. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1489183 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Transformative learning in education requires pedagogical change to challenge where knowledge is situated and dislodge the unmerited privileges associated with conventional practices of language and emotion in classrooms. Responding to this call, this paper centers the experiences of two learners with refugee backgrounds and explores how a spoken word poetry curriculum implemented in a language classroom raises critical awareness related to language, identity, race/racism, and belonging. Data were collected from course materials, interviews, journals, and artifacts and were analyzed to examine how emotional attachments connect to people and experiences. By positioning students' lives and languages at the center of critical language learning, spoken word poetry cultivated learner agency, and dialogic engagement. Participants disrupted deficit narratives of refugees as illegitimate and reclaimed their right to be heard, seen and felt, first and foremost, as humans. This study makes a pedagogical contribution to literature by highlighting the implications of integrating spoken word poetry into language classrooms and emphasizes the relationship between emotions and language. The findings will be of interest to educators and researchers interested in disrupting conventional language practices that allow students to resist rather than reproduce forms of oppression. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0039-8322 1545-7249 |
| DOI: | 10.1002/tesq.70002 |
