AAAL 2026: Invited Colloquium
Convened by Angelica Galante and Pramod Sah
AAAL 2026 Wilga Rivers Colloquium: Plurilingual Pedagogies for Linguistic Justice: Moving Beyond Traditional Bilingualism
Conveners:
Pramod Sah, The Education University of Hong Kong
Speakers:
Sender Dovchin
Mi Yung Park
Stephen May
Ruth Fielding
Shaila Sultana
John Wayne dela Cruz
Anna Mendoza
Colloquium Abstract
In a world of linguistic tensions, where minoritized languages are often left to the margins, education systems must move beyond mono/bilingual paradigms to embrace plurilingual pedagogies that promote linguistic justice. This colloquium brings together researchers/educators from diverse contexts (New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, USA, and Canada) to explore how language learning and teaching can be reimagined through a social justice lens, challenging dominant ideologies that privilege certain languages while marginalizing others.
Plurilingual pedagogies recognize learners’ full linguistic, cultural, and racial repertoires as powerful assets (Galante, 2022), yet dominant ideologies in education continue to uphold certain languages while rendering others invisible. Rejecting deficit-based perspectives on multilingualism is not just an option—it is an urgent necessity. Plurilingual pedagogies can actively contribute to decolonizing language education (Galante et al., 2024), dismantling linguistic discrimination (Sah & Li, 2022, 2024), and equipping language learners from diverse backgrounds with critical awareness about social, cultural, political, and racial, inequalities (Sultana & Dovchin, 2021) so they can exercise their agency and challenge discriminatory colonial and racist practices.
In this colloquium, participants will engage with empirical research in different contexts demonstrating how plurilingual pedagogies are implemented, contributing to equitable educational outcomes and affirming students’ plurilingual and pluricultural identities while exploring contextual challenges and limitations. This colloquium will address critical questions such as: How can language educators in rural and urban spaces integrate plurilingual pedagogies in their language classrooms to disrupt systemic inequities in schools? How can teacher education programs prepare future educators to implement plurilingual pedagogies effectively, even in officially monolingual/bilingual contexts? Presentations will highlight learner-centered approaches, teacher education models, and community-centered initiatives that promote linguistic rights and justice.
By centering equity, access, and social justice, this colloquium bridges research and practice, challenges traditional hierarchies of language learning and envisions a future where all languages—and their speakers—are valued equally and empowered.
After a brief introduction to the colloquium by the organizers, each presentation will be 15 minutes long, followed by a 10-minute for discussant commentary. Finally, there will be a Q&A for 20 minutes.