UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 is to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. Second language learning for adults can be viewed in light of this global goal. In Second Language Learning, Multilingual Language Assistants, and Social Justice, the author provides and in-depth exploration of this area of ​​education. For adult refugees with little schooling, learning a second language can be challenging, especially if one is also learning to read and write for the first time. This book explores the importance of multilingual language assistants (MLAs) in second language teaching for adult newcomers whose prior educational experience has been limited. Interviews with adult newcomers, teachers and MLAs, as well as observation of classroom teaching, are the starting points for discussing the participants’ investment in the second language, as well as processes of marginalization and empowerment that can be linked to second language learning. Theoretical inputs include critical pedagogy, multilingualism, sociocultural perspectives on learning and Bonny Norton’s theories of language learning, identity and investment. This book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of second language learning and multilingualism, second language teachers working with young people and adults, and decision-makers in the field of education.

This book is included in DOAB.