How do we support LGBTQIA+ learners in the language learning classroom?

By Patrick Creed and Julie Cuttance

Diversity and Inclusion

As learning organisations and promoters of learning and study, we focus on developing and sharing a vision centred on the learning of all students, while also creating and supporting continuous learning opportunities for all of our staff. This helps promote team learning and collaboration, and establishes a culture of inquiry, innovation, and exploration inside and outside the classroom.
Organisations involved in training and education have begun to notice a greater call to recognise diversity within our learning societies. We have an increasing awareness that we are meeting individuals in our classrooms that are not represented in the materials we use to teach.

But what is diversity and inclusion? Diversity means recognising and including people from a range of social groups, backgrounds, and characteristics: gender, sexual orientation, age, race, ethnicity or national origin, differences in ability, socioeconomic class, religion, fatness and body size, neurodiversity… the list continues! We often talk about these groups as minorities, but many of us belong to at least one of the aforementioned groups.

Inclusion means working to include voices and perspectives different to our own. This means learning to recognise and challenge norms and biases. Social norms presume that the ‘average’ or ‘normal’ person is white, heterosexual, middle class, able-bodied and likely male – even though very few of us are that person. A quick browse of a random sample of coursebooks finds them full of active, happy, heterosexual people with disposable incomes, and even in units that contain themes that Seburn refers to as “universal human experiences” (2021, p160) such as falling in love or having an argument with a partner the people are only represented through heteronormative relationships and families.

Works like The Unpublished and initiatives such as International House World’s The Unpublished Competition, however, highlights the absence of LGBTQIA+ people in ELT materials. Learning to identify norms helps us to change how we think, recognise minority or marginalised groups, and challenge the assumptions we make about other people.

The published materials that we use in our classrooms try to be as neutral as possible, in order to appeal to the widest audience of learners and all nationalities; however, in doing so, the representation of many groups and individuals who use the books is lacking. So what can we, as teachers and facilitators, change to ensure our learners are fully, and accurately, represented in their education?

Partnership and Erasmus Funded Project Work

With the above in mind, an Erasmus sponsored partnership developed between two Irish organisations and one from Romania to consider how LGBTQIA+ people are represented in ELE materials. IH Bridge Mills Galway Language Centre met Transgender Equality Network Ireland at an EPALE sponsored event in Ireland in 2024. TENI, who promote and support the rights of transgender people, is a non-profit organisation founded in 2006.

In recent years, larger numbers of students more outwardly identifying as LGBTQIA+ have enrolled in our schools, but teachers have insufficient classroom material in which those learners can see themselves. Inclusion and non-discrimination are what we should strive for, and teachers need the materials and tools to fulfil this ambition. Organisations want to be part of the solution and to promote respect so our students feel seen in the way that they want to be seen, and are included and represented in the classrooms we teach in. This forms the basis of what this project aimed to achieve: raising awareness of these issues, educating on LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and finding solutions and providing ideas including useful material adaptations, on what we can all do to help promote a fair and representative classroom and learning environment for LGBTQIA+ learners.

The Project

The project was funded by Erasmus small scale partnership funding. The core objective of the project was to review existing materials used in the adult language learning classroom, and think about how those materials represent all learners and in particular those from LGBTQIA+ backgrounds. We then went on to devise training through recorded online workshops shared with the wider community, supported with worksheets that can be used to make learning materials more inclusive of everyone in the classroom.

As adult learning organisations working with many different nationalities, the partners have had a great opportunity to learn from different students from all over the world. In an Irish context, we work with two broad groups: individuals who have chosen to come to Ireland to study with us, and adults who have come to Ireland as refugees or asylum seekers, having been forced to flee war and, in some cases, persecution, including oppression related to being part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The target group was the adult learner studying languages, focussing on key skills needed to aid them in their integration into where they now live, as well as building language learning skills to help with future career development.

Project Outcomes

As a starting point the project asked teachers, academic managers, materials developers, and school owners to tell us whether they considered the classroom materials used in their organisation to be LGBTQIA+ inclusive. The respondents said:

Despite only 18.8% responding positively to a question which asked if respondents knew of any additional materials which are inclusive of LGBTQIA+ people, the participants were able to contribute to a list of existing published materials that may be useful for inclusion and recognition of different identities in the language learning classroom.

If the survey takers deem only 4.6% of our classroom materials are very inclusive, what impact might this have on our LGBTQIA+ students? Paiz (2019) advocates that this invisibility helps reify dominant, heteronormative discourses which would seem to be supported by the following teacher comments left in the survey:

“Obviously, the coursebooks don’t have directly homophobic content, but it’s as if gay people don’t exist.”

“Most texts are no longer racist but avoid committing to the LGBTQIA+ world.”

“I haven’t really thought about whether they are inclusive or not, which probably indicates that they aren’t explicitly exclusive.”

“I have not come across any English language books that show LGBTQIA+ relationships or discussions that could be included.”

“I think the fact that we don’t have many LGBTQIA+ material is mostly the fault of the textbook publishers. Sometimes they have listening materials that play out as a kind of romantic story, and it’s always a heterosexual couple. I think this is something that should change.”

The findings of the questionnaire helped inform the development of a training series which was delivered through four recorded online workshops, as well as the production of a series of four worksheets to help promote inclusion and diversity in the ELE classroom.

The four workshops followed this schematic:

• Workshop 1: Introduction – Raising Awareness of LGBTQIA+ communities identities and their place as equal European citizens – We introduced the findings from our survey on LGBTQIA+ inclusivity in ESL materials and considered how inclusive such resources and materials are.
• Workshop 2: Understanding Diversity in the classroom – What is diversity and inclusion and why is it important? How can we raise awareness of LGBTQIA+ communities’ identities and their place in the classroom?
• Workshop 3: Rights and Challenges of LGBTQIA+ communities – How can we improve respect, understanding and inclusion across English Language Education (ELE) and what challenges might LGBTQIA+ learners face in the classroom? What support can we provide?
• Workshop 4: Reflection and Learning – Set goals for our future classrooms and further explored practical ways of making our materials more inclusive.

Four worksheets were developed promoting innovation in education and training, and supporting digital content and pedagogical practices in the language learning environment for LGBTQIA+ learners. The materials and training are available for free on Bridge Mills Galway Language Centre’s website for download and use.

Practical Strategies for Inclusion

Lower Levels

At A1 to B1 levels, inclusion can be embedded through everyday teaching choices:

• Choose readings and listening texts with LGBTQIA+ representation
• Regularly replace heteronormative coursebook images in a variety of lessons to include a variety of families and identities.
• Ensure inclusivity in all topics (only using modern gender neutral job titles etc.)
• Teach gender-neutral family and job titles
• Introduce singular they
• Include multiple pronoun forms as needed (she/they, he/they) in grammar work so that students can use, or can understand when they hear these pronoun combinations

Most importantly: ensure students see themselves included.

Higher Levels

With more advanced learners (B1+ to C2), teachers can explore inclusion more deeply:

• Use newspaper articles on equality, representation, and legislation
• Encourage conversations about diversity and inclusion
• Study inclusive films and TV shows

It is worth noting that just because we create inclusive resources and spaces, that doesn’t necessarily mean that learners must reveal their identities, and it doesn’t require educators to reveal theirs either. That is solely the decision of the individual (Paiz, 2019).

The Future: Language for All

Through the process of considering inclusion for LGBTQIA+ learners in our classrooms, the knock-on effect has been to make our organisations, teachers, and teacher trainers, more aware and more understanding of the concept of inclusion. The project has found that workshops and group discussions sit at the forefront of accessible strategies for making materials LGBTQIA+ inclusive.

Now the work continues – to spread knowledge, and manage that knowledge appropriately (Creed, 2024). We are looking to teaching organisations, trainers, and material writers to open themselves up to be more inclusive and to support all the students in their classrooms. Inclusivity for LGBTQIA+ learners in a language school setting ensures that their identities are recognized, respected, and supported, enabling them to thrive academically and socially. When LGBTQIA+ learners see themselves reflected in the teaching resources and feel affirmed in their identities, the language they are learning will be real, relevant, and accessible.

Bibliography

Creed, P. (2024), The Importance of Knowledge Management in the Ever-Changing Language School Workplace, International House Journal Issue 52 The Importance of Knowledge Management in the Ever-Changing Language School Workplace – International House World Organisation [accessed 21.03.2025]

Paiz, J. M. (2019), Queering Practice: LGBTQ+ Diversity and Inclusion in English Language Teaching, Journal of Language, Identity & Education, June 2019 https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2019.1629933 [accessed 10.04.25]

The Unpublished (https://the-unpublished.com/the-project/) [accessed 18.02.25]

Biographies