Yaseen Ali & Jasjit Sangha, Academic Success – “Inclusive Teaching Strategies for Supporting EAL Students.”
In our work as Learning Strategists, we use an anti-oppressive pedagogy to develop programming that integrates an understanding of the intersectional identities of international students and of the systemic barriers they experience. During the shift to online learning, we found that many EAL (English as an additional language) users highlighted concerns around their verbal and written participation using virtual platforms resulting in feelings of exclusion, self-doubt, and imposter phenomenon. Racialized students in particular have noted experiences of receiving microaggressions about their English delivery, working with impatient audiences, and feeling ignored by fellow classmates in groupwork. As such, how can we as course instructors, teaching assistants, and student-facing staff anticipate these challenges and support the plurilingual strengths of this community? Our session will engage participants about practical strategies and tools to empower multilingual and multi-accented learners, as well as other many other students who do not fit under the category of “international” status.