Chapter 17: Offering Possibilities for Reflection to Support Multilingual Language Learners

In the most recent research projects I have undertaken with colleagues, we have found that in linguistically diverse schools, some teachers are organically developing beliefs and practices which create pockets of possibility for multilingual students’ language learning (Erling, Foltz, & Brummer, 2022; Erling, Foltz, & Brummer, 2022; Erling, Foltz, Siwik, & Brummer, 2022). These practices include building a positive classroom atmosphere that welcomes students’ diverse identities and languages, fostering agentive learning and being aware of students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Even if teachers do not have any competence in their students’ home languages, expressing interest in them seems to have a positive effect on learning. Our findings provide hope that teachers in such contexts are embracing at least the rudiments of a translan-guaging stance and creating spaces in which students can enact their multilingual identities and be valued and welcome members of the classroom community. In this contribution, I explore ways in which the pockets of possibility identified in our research can be harnessed and extended through teacher education and school development initiatives. In this way, the transformative potential of language education can be purposefully enhanced through teacher education initiatives that encourage moving away from deficit perspectives of multilingualism and reducing inequities in LX learning.