Participatory ESOL as process and product: Community-based participatory research with refugee English learners

Adult English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) courses are crucial for the social and economic integration of immigrant and refugee families. These programs need to be customised to learners’ diverse educational backgrounds, needs and objectives. However, adult ESOL programs consistently face demand that surpasses capacity, and neoliberal funding requirements prioritise workforce integration. This article results from a community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership established to address these intersecting challenges through ESOL instruction shaped by the needs and priorities of refugee adults. Participatory approaches have been used widely to engage adult learners in research, from needs analysis to curriculum development and program evaluation. However, in this article we argue that CBPR is both process and product, an effective method for facilitating learning and knowledge production. Through vignettes recreated from field notes, a learner-authored story and a participatory evaluation of the course, we examine the process we have undergone simultaneously as adult education and research about adult education. By examining the data for instances of vivencia, praxis, and conscientisation, we confirmed that critical adult education is participatory research. Community concerns sparked the project, and the expertise of those closest to the issue informed the solution, resulting in individual conscientisation and action toward broader social change. By centring learners’ own words in the article, we aim to trouble the presumed divisions between community and university, researcher and participant, and education and research. We encourage fellow community-engaged scholars to reconnect with the roots of this powerful approach and recognise the importance of living out their onto-epistemological commitments in both the process and the product of participatory inquiry.