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English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs provide opportunities for refugees and migrants to improve their competence in the English language and facilitate their integration into host communities. Therefore, raising awareness of the host culture and the diverse nationalities represented in classrooms is integral to ESOL teaching. The literature recommends a number of inclusive classroom strategies for English language teaching. It is important to examine the extent to which experienced ESOL practitioners consider these to be feasible in teaching refugee and migrant learners, given their unique characteristics. This study aimed to explore classroom strategies which can facilitate cultural inclusion to create a checklist of strategies based on the input of experienced ESOL practitioners in the UK. Applying an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, classroom strategies recommended in the literature were extracted through content analysis. An online survey with Likert-style questions was then created to ask qualified and experienced ESOL teachers for their evaluation of the effectiveness of these strategies. Participants were also encouraged to share their own recommended strategies for promoting cultural inclusion. The net promoter score (NPS) method was used to categorize the surveyed strategies into feasibility levels based on the evaluations of the participants. Strategies proposed by participants but not on the original list were also selected where they added useful additions to this list. The resulting list is presented as an appendix. Common features of feasible strategies, such as the promotion of learner identities and prioritizing learner needs are discussed, as are strategies which might be worthy of further promotion amongst ESOL professionals, e.g., using digital resources and practicing translanguaging. This study proposes the checklist as a means of supporting the planning and delivery of culturally inclusive lessons, thereby enhancing the use of intercultural approaches in ESOL teaching in the UK.
Undugoda et al. (Thu,) studied this question.