Creating Inclusive Adult ESL Classrooms through Promoting Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

With an increasing immigrant population in the United States, higher education institutions and community organizations offer a variety of adult English as a second language (ESL) courses. Given that English language learners (ELLs) come from various backgrounds, they face unique challenges. Thus, it is pivotal that adult ESL instructors effectively address the needs of diverse ELLs in their classrooms. This qualitative study was guided by Critical Language and Race Theory introduced by Crump (2014) to explore how adult ESL instructors promote culturally responsive pedagogy. Participants of this study were seven adult ESL instructors teaching at a community college in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through face-to-face, semistructured interviews, journal entries, and classroom observations. This study contributes to the body of research that highlights the importance of promoting culturally responsive pedagogy in order to create an inclusive language learning environment.