Pedagogical challenges in teaching ESOL/Multilingual writers in theological education

Abstract

A theological school's international students contribute to and are constitutive of its diversity. Yet while research on diversity in theological education is flourishing, the pedagogical challenges of international ESOL (English for Speakers of other Languages) theological students and of their teachers have received scant attention. This article probes the pedagogical challenges of international student writers in theological schools, and of their teachers and tutors, by (1) reflecting on those challenges, their context, and responses to them; (2) connecting contemporary theories of ESOL language learning with the practice of teaching and tutoring non-native English writers in a theological context; and (3) proposing a discipline-driven, writing-centered ESOL pedagogy that I call “Writing Theology as a Common Language.” See as well “Responses to Lucretia B. Yaghjian's ‘Pedagogical challenges in teaching ESOL/multilingual writers in theological education,’ by Steed Vernyl Davidson, Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook (with Ahsah Kyuelna and Angela Wendy Tankersley), Hyo-Dong Lee, and Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández, published in this issue of the journal.