What is it about?
Many teachers work with students who are still learning the language of instruction, yet teacher education often treats multilingualism as a specialist topic rather than as a core part of inclusion. In this study we analysed 127 reflective papers written by practising teachers enrolled in an ESL/bilingual endorsement programme at a US university. Each teacher spent one hour in a language context they did not understand – radio, television, or a community or religious service – and then wrote a reflection and a plan for applying what they had learned in class.
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Why is it important?
The reflections show four recurring themes: the emotional weight of not understanding for a sustained time; the value of gestures, images and relationships as ways into communication; how being an outsider shapes belonging; and a move from empathy to concrete commitments to inclusive teaching. These short, ethically framed experiences do not simulate the lives of multilingual learners, but they can help teachers see the barriers their students face and design more inclusive classrooms.
Perspectives
This article, written with Amanda Lira Gordenstein Montes, brings together my interest in teacher education and in the inclusion of multilingual learners. I hope it encourages teacher educators to use short, carefully framed experiences to help teachers see their classrooms through the eyes of students who do not yet understand the language of instruction.
Dr. Miguel Fernández Álvarez
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: From linguistic outsiderhood to inclusive practice: critical experiential learning in multilingual teacher education, International Journal of Inclusive Education, September 2026, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2026.2739589.
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