








































From the Editors 
 

Building Inclusive Environments 
that Support Access and Success 
for Emergent Multilingual 
Learners 

GATESOL Journal 
2022, Vol. 32(1), pp. 1–3 
doi:10.52242/gatesol.170 

ISSN: 2331-6845 

 
 
David L. Chiesa 
University of Georgia 
 
Robert A. Griffin 
University of West Georgia 
 
 
The spring 2022 issue of GATESOL Journal provides language teachers, administrators, 
community developers, curriculum designers, and advocates of the emergent multilingual 
population in Georgia, the U.S., and around the world with insights on developing inclusive 
practices. Inclusion is “the act of creating environments in which any individual or group can feel 
welcomed, respected, supported, and valued to fully participate. An inclusive and welcoming 
climate embraces differences and offers respect in words and actions for all people'' (YW Boston 
Blog, 2019, para. 8). This issue will showcase how inclusive practices can be supported in 
language, culturally and linguistically responsive teaching practices, and peace-oriented education. 
 
Teacher Educators, International Students, Immigrant/Refugees and Inclusion 
Classroom observation for both supervisory and non-supervisory purposes is a fact of life in 
second language and foreign language teaching. In fact, a widely accepted teacher development 
practice is for classroom teachers to be observed by more experienced teachers who are expected 
to provide helpful feedback on relevant qualities of classroom instruction. Unfortunately, few 
programs prepare language teachers or teacher educators to serve as either feedback providers 
(e.g., supervisors, supportive peers) or as feedback receivers (e.g., teachers). This issue opens with 
the multilingual researcher, Tuğba Nur Doğan Faitour, and her empirical study about herself and 
her experiences. She examines her role as an emergent bilingual speaker of English who provides 
peer support to her colleague abroad who also identifies as an emergent bilingual. Doğan Faitour 
takes a mixed-methods approach and examines the quantity and quality of English mitigation 
devices used to discern the effectiveness of her feedback to create a safe, non-threatening, and 
inclusive context for the purposes of increasing teacher awareness. 

How to build an inclusive and safe space for multilingual learners is a theme Ji Ma also 
addresses in her literature review, which examines the challenges and strategies facing 
international students and faculty in the U.S. higher education system. Ma’s literature review 
utilizes one book and 37 journal articles and aims to challenge “the normativity of the value of 
international education and international students by examining CLR [culturally linguistically 
responsive] practices” (p. 32) to support international students. Her paper uncovers the deep 
complexity of the varying relationships among international students, faculty, staff, and domestic 
students. Ma proposes five instructional strategies, five classroom environment practices, and two 



2 GATESOL Journal 32(1)  
 

student services that universities in the U.S. can implement which could alleviate challenges that 
international students face. With the efforts from faculty, staff, scholars, and students from 
multiple cultures, Ma emphasizes that “we can build linguistic and culturally diverse spaces in 
academia that could benefit all” (p. 32). 

Also interested in building inclusive learning environments that support access and success 
for multilingual learners is Guptill, who discusses his original instructional design for adult 
immigrant and refugee populations. His curriculum design employs Critical Pedagogy and a 
Language for Peace Approach, which aims to support language educators to teach English 
language skills and nourish and sustain students’ agency and empathy in localized civic 
engagements. His paper walks us through the process of answering the following inquiry: How 
can students, teachers, and community members work co-intentionally and collaboratively to 
create and sustain a civically engaged community? Guptill provides readers with possible needs 
assessments, suggested activities for peace-oriented service-learning, and will provide you with 
ideas for incorporating civic engagement into your classrooms. 
 
Inclusive and Engaging Pedagogical Practices for Language Teaching and Learning Spaces  
The final three articles of this issue address best practices for engaging emergent bilingual students 
in learning. Reyes, Leckie, and Stevenson use the term emergent bilingual, and not English 
learner, to strive for inclusivity because they argue that emergent bilingual emphasizes students’ 
linguistic assets (not deficiencies) and what these students bring to the teaching/learning space in 
schools. (GATESOL Journal recognizes the importance of this terminology and will strive to use 
it henceforth in all its editorials and promote it with authors who submit papers.) Reyes, Leckie, 
and Stevenson emphasize the imperativeness for language educators to make “language and 
concepts visual and visible” (p. 52) in the learning environment because imagery can leverage 
access to content concepts and facilitate academic language development. They have identified 
several strategies and structures that are recognized to support students’ language and literacy 
development among emergent bilinguals, such as using anchor charts, interactive vocabulary walls 
with pictures, and sentence frames. Reyes et al. draw our attention to the importance of enhancing 
family-school partnerships and connections among culturally and linguistically diverse students 
and their families.  

Mobley and Ramsay-Jordan’s paper builds upon best practices for emergent bilingual 
students and transitions our understanding of the teaching environment to include virtual 
classrooms and spaces for learning. The article has us examine our own pedagogical practices and 
calls us to review the importance of providing meaningful interactions, understanding the power 
of student motivation, placing importance on vocabulary instruction, learning about the partnership 
model, and using graphic organizers. Mobley and Ramsay-Jordan’s paper is a response to the 
current teaching and learning climate and is meant to support educators to produce creative ways 
to utilize virtual spaces for reading development and inclusivity.  

The final paper by Kristensen addresses the best practices for engaging young emergent 
bilinguals and explains clearly and succinctly the teaching techniques of reader’s theatre and role-
play. Kristensen summarizes how readers’ theatre was successfully implemented in a kindergarten 
classroom in Atlanta, Georgia, and outlines the procedure in a nine-step process. The guidelines 
shared in this Teaching Technique piece can support emergent bilinguals to engage in meaningful 
learning experiences while also increasing their language skills.  
 



Chiesa & Griffin  3 
 

Finally, I (David) would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to my colleague, 
Dr. Robert Griffin. The GATESOL Journal’s growth is due to his endurance and willingness to 
dedicate valuable time, energy, and resources to provide our readership with substantial and quality 
articles. His vision and persistence is going to be missed but we at GATESOL Journal look forward 
to reading his scholarship and seeing how it blossoms and influences the academic fields that he 
is a part of. Thank you for all you have done Dr. Griffin. Huzzah. 
 
Reference 
 
YW Boston Blog. (2019, March 26). Beyond the DE&I acronym: What are diversity, equity, and 
inclusion? https://www.ywboston.org/2019/03/beyond-the-acronym-dei/  
 
 

____________________________________________________________________________ 
 

Published: April 18, 2022 

https://www.ywboston.org/2019/03/beyond-the-acronym-dei/

	Building Inclusive Environments that Support Access and Success for Emergent Multilingual Learners
	GATESOL Journal2022, Vol. 32(1), pp. 1–3
	doi:10.52242/gatesol.170
	ISSN: 2331-6845

