Exploring language learning in contexts of forced migration: Classroom engagement, digital mediation, and the concept of ‘pedagogical safe houses’
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Tetiana Bogachenko: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8655-2727
Abstract
While research continues to offer insights into the role of trauma in shaping learning, further work is required to consider foundational principles of language instruction—such as emphasis on linguistic risk-taking—from the perspective of learners with trauma experiences, including people with refugee backgrounds. While educators—particularly those without experiences of complex trauma—may perceive opportunities to take linguistic risks as wholly positive and key to classroom engagement, refugee background learners may encounter significant stress when undertaking such tasks. In this chapter, we draw on our work with adult learners and language educators in Australia regarding the use of digital tools such as Google Translate, to focus on the central research question: What does engagement in the language classroom look like for people who have experienced the violence and trauma of forced migration? We consider Canagarajah’s (2004) concept of ‘pedagogical safe houses’ as an exploratory lens to support educators' critical engagement with learners’ active construction of educational spaces to facilitate diverse forms of classroom participation. In doing so, our intention is not to disrupt or appropriate these agentic practices of space-making, but rather to consider how educators might adopt a more facilitative stance in the language classroom, allowing learner perspectives to guide modes of engagement. We also examine potential misalignments between educator and learner expectations of classroom engagement, highlighting the need for strengthened professional support and focused research to broaden dominant understandings of linguistic risk-taking in ways that acknowledge trauma-impacted experiences of learners from refugee backgrounds.
Keywords
trauma, refugees, language learning, classrooms, engagement, pedagogy
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Volume
72
Publication Title
Educational Linguistics
Publisher
Springer
School
School of Education
RAS ID
95209
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
247
Last Page
263
Comments
Burke, R., & Bogachenko, T. (2026). Exploring language learning in contexts of forced migration: Classroom engagement, digital mediation, and the concept of ‘pedagogical safe houses’. In V. Tavares & S. Melo-Pfeifer (Eds.), Language education and learners of a refugee background (pp. 247–263). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-16947-1_15