[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-598165-105":3,"doc-detail-598165-en":81,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":99},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","educating-students-of-refugee-backgrounds-critical-language-teacher-education-in-tesol","Educating Students of Refugee Backgrounds - Critical Language Teacher Education in TESOL","","Critical language teacher education in TESOL examines how schooling and society privilege some groups over others, aiming to build teachers’ awareness of policies and practices tied to equity. The article analyzes the enactment of this approach in a domestic travel course for ESL teachers addressing learners from refugee backgrounds, an area often underdeveloped in teacher preparation. It highlights needs for specialized professional learning, describes refugee resettlement and educational challenges in the US and globally, and discusses implications for teacher education and professional learning.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/educating-students-of-refugee-backgrounds-critical-language-teacher-education-in-tesol/598165/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/educating-students-of-refugee-backgrounds-critical-language-teacher-education-in-tesol/598165.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Mafia Boss","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What does critical language teacher education contribute to TESOL teacher preparation?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It focuses on how schooling and society privilege some groups over others, encouraging teachers to connect local policies and practices with possible actions for equity.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why are ESL teachers often required to seek additional training for students of refugee backgrounds?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Very few ESL teacher-education programs prepare candidates for the unique needs of refugee learners, so teachers frequently need specialized professional learning after entering the workplace.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What educational challenges are described for students of refugee backgrounds?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Learners may have interrupted or minimal schooling, may be preliterate in their home language, and often face limited access to native-language resources after resettlement.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},598165,1792191592,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",{"doc_id":79,"user_id":84,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":85,"doc_module":4,"category_id":86,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":87,"file_id":88,"file_url":89,"file_type":90,"file_size":91,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":92,"language":93,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":94,"faqs":95,"seo_title":96,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":97,"read_time":98,"preview_page_count":4},962090760730,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc",8,"Educating Students of Refugee Backgrounds: Critical Language Teacher Education in TESOL  \nCritical language teacher education (Hawkins & Norton, 2009) describes an approach to TESOL teacher preparation that explicitly attends to the structures of schooling and society that privilege some groups over others. More than presenting methods or theories of TESOL in isolation, the intention of a critical approach is to foster awareness of local policies and practices in relation to possible teacher action for equity—essential for those in the position of welcoming and supporting English learners in US schools. This article explores how this approach was enacted in a domestic travel course for ESL teachers focused on the education of students of refugee backgrounds, an area underdeveloped in teacher education. Implications for TESOL teacher preparation in general, and for TESOL teacher professional learning about refugees specifically, are discussed.  \nOften, the first educators to welcome and assist students of refugee  \nbackgrounds as they enter schools in the US are English as a second language (ESL) teachers. However, very few ESL teacher-education programs specifically prepare teacher candidates for the unique needs of these students. This means that teachers of youth and adults of refugee backgrounds often require specialized additional professional learning once they are in the workplace. In order to enhance in-service ESL teachers’ understanding of students of refugee backgrounds and develop their expertise in supporting them in school, an intensive, short-term course for teachers was developed and implemented at a refugee center in Tucson, Arizona.  \nThis article explores the design of this course and its impact on participants through the lens of Hawkins and Norton’s (2009) principles of critical language teacher education.  \nThe CATESOL Journal 31.1 • 2019 • 165  \nRefugee Resettlement and Education  \nAccording to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR, n.d.), refugees are those who are forced to leave their country because of persecution, violence, or war and are unable to return. Refugees experience displacement, genocide, gender-based violence, and other traumas (Miller, 2012) . Further exacerbating their trauma is a lack of access to human services. For example, when displaced in camp environments, children may or may not have an opportunity to attend school and basic human rights and services such as employment, health and mental health care, and safe housing are severely limited.  \nIn the US, the president consults yearly with Congress to determine the number and origin of refugees who will be admitted. Refugees come to the US as legal permanent residents, unlike other immigrants, and undergo an extensive vetting and eligibility process. In 2018, the number of refugees admitted to the US was cut in half to 45,000, and in 2019 the number was further reduced to 30,000 (Refugee Council USA, n.d.). Approximately 34% of all refugees resettled to the US are between the ages of 5 and 18 years old (BRYCS, 2018) .  \nAcademically, students of refugee backgrounds possess many of the multilingual and personal resources of their fellow English language learner (ELL) peers, but they also face challenges related to interrupted or minimal formal education. Often, refugees have missed many years of schooling because of conflict and other stressors in their lives before resettlement (Mendenhall, Russell, & Buckner, 2017) . In some cases, refugees may have never had an opportunity to attend school at all. They may be preliterate in their home language and thus face the additional hurdle of learning to read and write in an entirely new language. Complicating this challenge is the lack of native-language resources within their communities of resettlement—particularly in languages such as Kinyarwanda, Tigrinya, Chaldean, Tedim Chin, and Dzongkha, to name just a few of the many home languages of refugees resettled to the US (C","cbCaighdZ4j7j060","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaighdZ4j7j060","pdf",146593,15,"English","# Refugee Resettlement and Education\n## Refugees’ definitions and experiences\n## Access to schooling and services\n# Educational challenges for students of refugee backgrounds\n## Interrupted or minimal formal education\n## Literacy barriers and language resources\n# Teacher preparation gaps in the US\n## ESL teacher education and specialized learning\n## Graduation-rate disparities and instructional concerns\n# Course design and impact in Tucson, Arizona\n## Applying critical language teacher education principles","[{\"question\":\"What does critical language teacher education contribute to TESOL teacher preparation?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on how schooling and society privilege some groups over others, encouraging teachers to connect local policies and practices with possible actions for equity.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are ESL teachers often required to seek additional training for students of refugee backgrounds?\",\"answer\":\"Very few ESL teacher-education programs prepare candidates for the unique needs of refugee learners, so teachers frequently need specialized professional learning after entering the workplace.\"},{\"question\":\"What educational challenges are described for students of refugee backgrounds?\",\"answer\":\"Learners may have interrupted or minimal schooling, may be preliterate in their home language, and often face limited access to native-language resources after resettlement.\"}]","Educating Students of Refugee Backgrounds - Critical Language Teacher Education in TESOL | PDF",1792086407,38,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":100},[101,105,109,113,117,122,127,130,135,138,142],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":86,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":128,"slug":129},30,"research-report",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":134},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":137},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":139,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":140,"show_sort_weight":139,"slug":141},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":143,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":144,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":145},19,"General","general"]