“I Own My Life Now”: Implications of Trauma Survivors' Language Acquisition for a Pedagogy of Empowerment in TESOL

Abstract This article explores the language experiences of refugees and asylum seekers who survived sex trafficking, domestic slavery, and sexuality‐based persecution. Drawing on a longitudinal study of 15 respondents followed across two time points separated by 6 years, all members of an England‐based therapeutic community, we focus here on four individuals, examining how English—initially experienced as a language of exile—became a medium for healing, identity reconstruction, and self‐expression. Using Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, our wider study traces how English came to be emotionally and socially inhabited. Healing is framed not as the resolution of trauma but as the reconstruction of self within emotionally safe environments. The analysis highlights the affective, symbolic, and empowering dimensions of later‐learned languages, particularly when learning occurs in relationally secure and emotionally attuned contexts . Three themes are explored: emotional refuge, a sense of sanctuary and belonging, and identity reconstruction leading to greater personal freedom. The article argues that trauma‐informed TESOL, when rooted in relational and multilingual pedagogy, can support posttraumatic growth without replicating therapeutic models.