Social justice and less commonly taught languages: a case study of teacher knowledge

The critical turn, which calls for politically, socially, and culturally responsive ways of conceptualising and enacting instruction, has transformed education, yet has been slow to influence the teaching of languages other than English. This is particularly true for less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) because teachers have fewer resources, may identify differently with the language and its cultures, and are more professionally isolated than their more commonly taught language counterparts. To date, little research explores LCTL teachers’ conceptualisations of social justice, despite the importance of LCTLs in the global educational landscape. To address this gap, this qualitative case study investigates three experienced, postsecondary teachers, one each of Chinese, Russian, and Turkish, who designed and implemented intermediate-level social justice curricular units. Findings, situated within five domains of knowledge for social justice educators, show that participants understand social justice in language education as a practice that is complex, centres diversity, and is impactful. Findings furthermore point to affordances and constraints influencing participants’ ability to enact critical pedagogies. These understandings, which underscore the complexities of social justice education and teachers’ situated knowledge, have implications for ongoing professional development as teachers expand and refine their pedagogical practices in response to the critical turn.