Multilingual Pedagogy as Antiracist Pedagogy:

Re-Envisioning the Inclusive (ELL) Classroom and Writing

Program

Katherine Daily O’Meara, St. Norbert College

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and racial reckoning that swept the nation in

Summer 2020, the racial consciousness of many Americans reached a critical mass, and the topic of

antiracism rose to the forefront. Instagram users participated in #BlackoutTuesday, where what

started as a protest by the music industry to recognize the death of George Floyd at the hands of

Minneapolis Police by posting a black square turned into a social media platform-wide movement,

with an estimated 28 million accounts participating worldwide (Monckton, 2020). The week of June

21, 2020, the top five nonfiction books on the NY Times bestseller list were White Fragility

(DiAngelo, 2019), So You Want to Talk About Race (Oluo, 2018), How to Be an Antiracist (Kendi, 2019),

Me and White Supremacy (Saad, 2020), and The New Jim Crow (Alexander, 2010). The buy-in was

incredible, and understandably, schools wanted to get in on this latest trend toward social justice.

In response to this reckoning, a common theme for professional development initiatives at

institutions (spanning P-12 through higher education) was that of antiracist pedagogy—the “paradigm

located within Critical [Race] Theory utilized to explain and counteract the persistence of racism

using praxis as its focus to promote social justice” (Blakeney, 2011, p. 119). Buzzwords like

intersectionality and racial equity and diversity training permeated educational listservs; links to antiracist

reading lists and syllabi and conference themes proliferated inboxes and start-of-school in-services.

38 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

But for those who already have experience working with diverse groups of students (whether that

diversity is racial, ethnic, linguistic, or cultural), many aspects that comprise antiracist pedagogy likely

sounded more than familiar. Teachers and administrators who specialize in working with

multilingual populations have already been doing antiracist-informed work, although they call this

praxis multilingual pedagogy.

This piece establishes connections between best practices in working with multilingual

student populations and features of antiracist pedagogy. Parallels can be drawn specifically when

considering the historic lack of support for both populations in education and the obligation of

teachers and administrators to “meet the moment” to best support populations of linguistically,

racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse students through inclusive approaches to teaching.

Multilingual pedagogy is in many ways a good start in working toward antiracist pedagogy, and what

follows will illuminate this symbiotic relationship in ways that are applicable to both classroom

teachers and school administrators.

Theoretical Underpinnings of Multilingual and Antiracist Pedagogies: An Introduction

Multilingual Pedagogy

Multilingual pedagogy is often referred to in academia as second language (or L2) writing.

This field has its roots in applied linguistics and traditionally focused more specifically on the

linguistic diversity of international student populations in higher education and how this impacts

students’ writing. In the past 30 years, the field has grown and expanded to be considered more

transdisciplinary (Matsuda, 2013), now comprising the expertise of multiple disciplines (e.g., applied

linguistics, rhetoric and composition/writing studies, TESOL) and acknowledging a wider range of

both students (e.g., residential and international multilingual students) and institutional

structures/types (e.g., including P-12 education along with higher ed; reaching beyond North

39 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

American contexts into international spaces). These changes have happened somewhat organically as

more and more scholars have come in contact with the field and as all writing classrooms have

grown increasingly more diverse.

The field of multilingual writing has also expanded in more recent years to include additional

concepts and statements that have become buzzwords salient to this article and its readers. For

example, the popularity of translingualism has grown in the last decade. Translingualism is the idea

that there is fluidity between/among languages, a concept that “sees difference in language not as a

barrier to overcome or as a problem to manage, but as a resource for producing meaning” (Horner

et al., 2011, p. 303). In short, it is the belief that language difference is both natural and acceptable—

and that it must be acknowledged in the classroom. Related terms are code switching and code-meshing.

Code switching is a linguistic phenomenon when a multilingual speaker alternates between their

multiple languages in a single situation; code-meshing, coined by Vershawn Ashanti Young in Your

Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity (2004; see also Young, 2013; Young, et al.,

2014), is the concept of combining or layering multiple languages, dialects, or registers (rather than

switching from one language to another). Translingualism, code switching, and code-meshing are

strongly aligned with statements like the Conference on College Composition and Communication

(CCCC) resolution “Students’ Right to Their Own Language” (1974) and the very recent “This Ain’t

Another Statement!” This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!” (2020b), which was released

last July in response to the racial reckoning in the United States.

A further distinction should also be articulated between the models of multilingual (or L2

writing) pedagogy and multicultural pedagogy, which has broader application than the English/writing

classroom and is based in the fields of education and sociology. As such, many of the practical

applications of multilingual pedagogy can be informed by and found under the umbrella of

40 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

multicultural pedagogy, whose three historic models are contrasted below in relief to the definition

of antiracist pedagogy.

Antiracist Pedagogy

Blakeney (2011), in the article “Antiracist Pedagogy: Definition, Theory, Purpose and

Professional Development,” offers extensive analysis of the theoretical grounding of antiracist

pedagogy, particularly in the ways it extends the traditional and historical theories that have

informed multilingual (and multicultural) pedagogy. Citing Kailin’s (2002) Antiracist Education: From

Theory to Practice, Blakeney notes that there have been three major models of multicultural education,

each of which is insufficient: the assimilationist model, the integrationist model, and the cultural

pluralism model. The assimilationist model encourages merging all diversities together with the goal

of creating one homogenous “melting pot.” The integrationist model emphasizes the U.S.’s

“opportunity structure” (Kailin, 2002, p. 48) to encourage minorities to participate and fit into

American (white) culture and society. The cultural pluralism model acknowledges the common

trope/ideology that America is a nation of immigrants, focusing on the tolerance and understanding

of differences—for now; Kailin (2002) notes that the “implicit assumption that cultural difference

was a temporary condition that would give way to assimilation” (p. 48).

Each of these models, Blakeney (2011) asserts, is problematic and incomplete, failing to

leave space for differences in color/race and culture, and that “Antiracist pedagogy is expansive

enough to include what each of the three models of Multicultural Education excludes” (p. 120). In

particular, antiracist pedagogy ventures to tackle racism head-on. Specifically:

Antiracist Pedagogy makes provision for understanding the impact of race and opportunity

as well as the cultural differences associated with upward mobility patterns by focusing on

the constructs of these inequalities. Antiracist Pedagogy also addresses the historical

41 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 constructs that facilitate inequalities and seeks to create an antiracist paradigm that in time

will serve to historically condition a new antiracist society. Antiracist Pedagogy includes

explicit instruction on confronting racism without reservation or risk of ostracism, both of

which are necessary in a society that mandates the purpose of public education as the

production of democratic citizenry. Antiracist pedagogy aims at transformation by

challenging the individual as well as the structural system that perpetuates racism. (Blakeney,

2011, p. 120)

Indeed, antiracist pedagogy looks at the big picture of structural inequality, which can make it seem

like an insurmountable task for individual classroom teachers and school/program administrators.

But incorporating multilingual and antiracist pedagogies is possible—and a first step includes

understanding the history of how these populations of students (multilingual students and students

of color) have been traditionally disenfranchised in education.

Historically Underserved and -valued: Multilingual Students and Students of Color

Before diving into how these pedagogies intersect, it is important to first note the similarities

in how the two populations (multilingual students and students of color) have been regarded in

school. Historically, the US education system was not originally engineered in a way that supports

either populations of multilingual students or students of color. Scott (2020) notes, “years of racist

policies and laws have shaped our classroom, colleges, and society at large,” and dismantling the

current setup to make way for structural and administrative change necessitates a brief history lesson

from both multilingual and antiracist research.

In the field of second language writing, Matsuda discusses this phenomenon in the higher-ed

multilingual realm, which he attributes to two historic factors: the “disciplinary division of labor”

(1999) and “the myth of linguistic homogeneity” (2006). The disciplinary division of labor details the

42 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

historic separation of those who traditionally worked with, trained, and supported multilingual

students (i.e., specialists in linguistics and applied linguistics) and those who worked with

mainstream or native English speakers (i.e., specialists in rhetoric and composition). This disciplinary

divide resulted in comp instructors and English departments feeling like multilingual students were

“not their problem,” and it is what historically caused many multilingual students to be placed in

developmental (remedial) English classes incorrectly. Just as damaging for multilingual students is

the myth of linguistic homogeneity (Matsuda, 2006)—the realization that “the dominant discourse

of U.S. college composition not only has accepted English Only as an ideal but it already assumes

the state of English-only, in which students are native English speakers by default” (p. 637). These

two phenomena (Matsuda 1999, 2006) explain English and writing teachers have not historically

been trained specifically to work with multilingual populations.

There is a similar separation that explains the inequities that many students of color

experience in their educational endeavors, whether in P-12 or into higher education. St. Amour

(2020b) discusses the rampant “equity gaps” that plague Black and brown students, connecting these

gaps to systemic factors like racial discrimination, housing segregation, and maternal mortality rates.

These systemic issues mean that the deck is stacked against nonwhite students before they ever set

foot in a classroom, and this situation often negatively affects their educational pursuits. Higher

education is also to blame, as this has traditionally been a space that has excluded Black and brown

populations. The Southern Education Foundation (2017) corroborates St. Amour’s (2020) findings,

identifying “significant barriers” that students of color face in higher education—specifically the

placement of Black and Latinx students into developmental (remedial) education programs to

“reduce the pre-college learning gap” they often experience in P-12.

43 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 This comparable educational situation for multilingual students and students of color alike

hinders both groups’ abilities to complete their college education in a timely fashion. In “The

Incredible Whiteness of Higher Education,” Montell (2019) notes, “Until we commit to dismantling

the structural inequities that are baked into our [P-12 and higher] educational systems and that

continue to privilege white students over students of color, true equity may remain out of reach.”

However, the real-life situation in individual classrooms may not always seem as dire as Montell

claims, thanks to the pedagogical approaches used by teachers of multilingual students, who are in

many ways already incorporating antiracist techniques into their teaching. Multilingual and antiracist

pedagogies are not an exact one-to-one; Kishimoto (2016) notes that anti-racism “focuses more in-

depth on the analysis of structural racism, power relations, and social justice” in ways that

multilingual pedagogy does not address (p. 2). In this way, antiracist pedagogy can enhance

multilingual pedagogy by moving past notions of colorblindness and interrogating present

educational structures through the lens of race. Still, their relationship is symbiotic: Adopting one

seems to benefit the other. The next sections offer key resources, research, and challenges of

multilingual and antiracist pedagogies, as well as recommendations for teachers and administrators

who are interested in incorporating or implementing facets of these pedagogies into their praxis.

Ideas for Adopting a Multilingual Pedagogy

One go-to resource for educators who teach multilingual populations is the “CCCC

Statement on Second Language Writing and Multilingual Writers” (CCCC, 2020a). This

comprehensive document, also promoted by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE),

includes guidelines for writing and writing-intensive courses (e.g., assignment design, assessment,

teacher preparation), as well as guidelines for writing programs (e.g., placement, staffing, resources

for teachers). One part of the statement that can be directly related to antiracist pedagogy is “Part

44 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

Four: Guidelines for Teacher Preparation.” The authors advocate that training for multilingual

pedagogy “should be integrated throughout the professional preparation and development programs

of all writing teachers,” emphasizing that teachers should address key topics, including cultural

beliefs related to writing, building on students’ competencies, and paying attention to assignment

design and response to writing (CCCC, 2020a). NCTE has also published “English Language

Learners: A Policy Research Brief” (2008) with many similar practical suggestions.

The CCCC Statement (2020a) helps to inform online resources found on many institutional

websites, including in our own state. For example, the UW-Madison site has a series of blog posts

on their Writing Across the Curriculum pages dedicated to multilingual writers, including an

introduction to the population (Vieira, n.d.), a list of campus and online resources (Writing Across

the Curriculum, n.d.), and suggestions for evaluating and grading multilingual writing (Miller, n.d.).

Providing easy-to-access online resources for teachers, parents, and students is an effective way to

demonstrate that supporting multilingual students is a priority in the classroom. I advocate for more

school administrators to collaborate with the teachers of multilingual students in their schools to

provide and circulate this pragmatic information through the lens of their local contexts.

Ideas for Adopting an Antiracist Pedagogy

While there is not yet a comprehensive resource authored by CCCC or NCTE that

specifically addresses antiracist pedagogy, a few key studies make valuable recommendations for key

steps teachers and schools can take to work toward this goal. Kishimoto (2016) suggests that a major

component of implementing antiracist pedagogy is “teaching from an antiracist pedagogical

approach.” But what does that mean, exactly? Blakeney (2011) places importance on “[equipping]

teachers with the ability to provide effective culturally responsive instruction” (p. 130). Asao B.

Inoue (2017), in his foreword “On Antiracist Agendas” in the edited collection Performing Antiracist

45 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

Pedagogy in Rhetoric, Writing, and Communication, gets even more specific: “No matter the kind of

course, topic, teacher, or group of students, there is one common thing that all teachers must

confront in any course: assessment and grading” (p. xv). He expands broadly on this argument in his

book Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future (Inoue,

2015). Other antiracist pedagogy resources make additional recommendations, including locating

curricular gaps and adopting intentional course design (Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning,

n.d.), reexamining teaching practices from the standpoint of students of color (Blackwell, 2010), and

overall racial consciousness-raising (Haynes, 2017).

One aspect of antiracist pedagogy that Blakeney (2011) asserts is paramount to its successful

implementation is the recognition that race is inextricable in an antiracist approach. The

acknowledgement of race (and antiracist pedagogy’s situatedness within Critical Race Theory) is a

topic that very few pre- and in-service teachers will have encountered before; as such, Blakeney

(2011) proposes that “Effective professional development will address historical and cultural

investigation of racism and development of racial identity” (p. 126). This means asking tough

questions about one’s own implicit biases: “teachers must be aware of their own racial identity

before they transform their own expectations, misconceptions, naiveté, presumptions, and

prejudices” (Blakeney, 2011, p. 126). Kishimoto (2016) acknowledges that this kind of critical inquiry

should include students, as well: “The discussion of race should not be restrained to accommodate

the comfort of white students and at the expense of students of color,” and “the uncomfortable

moments, crisis, difficulty, or emotions […] are important opportunities for student (and faculty)

growth” (p. 8). And Kailin (2002) notes that empowerment and activism of students, teachers, and

administrators is central to successfully implementing antiracist pedagogy, thereby using education as

“a tool to critically analyze existing power relations” (p. 55). Grounding these complex and

46 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

personally challenging topics in frameworks like intersectionality and Critical Race theory (CRT) may

provide a solid theoretical underpinning for teachers, so they are better able to grapple with these

alongside their students.

Inoue (2017) recommends a similar focus in teachers’ professional development:

A helpful antiracist agenda offers an understanding or explanation of race, racism, and the

particular racial formations that develop in and around the classroom or program in

question. […] This means the agenda may discuss how racism tends to be a part of the

structures and mechanisms of grading in writing classrooms, in teacher feedback, in the ways

that the school admits and places students into classes, in how and what it values in writing

and how those values are related to larger dominant discourses. (p. xvii-xviii)

This suggests that teachers of multilingual populations may have to shift their thinking from a

mostly pragmatic question, “What can I do to help these students succeed?”, to more reflective and

critical questions: “How do the existing power relations in which I work and teach contribute to or

perpetuate racist practices? In what ways does the structure of the educational system, (along with

my own values, beliefs, and biases) affect my students’ success? And in what ways can I best

acknowledge this situation and make changes to my pedagogy that best create an environment where

ALL students can thrive?”

Parallels Between Multilingual and Antiracist Pedagogies

While the vital component of race and its inseparability from the lived experiences of

students of color is something that Blakeney (2011) and Kishimoto (2016) argue sets antiracist

pedagogy apart from multilingual pedagogy, it is important to note that “Antiracist Pedagogy is born

out of the meshing of Multicultural Education [multilingual pedagogy] and Critical Pedagogy

[antiracist pedagogy]” (Blakeney, 2011, p. 121). There are enough similarities and parallels between

47 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

both multilingual and antiracist pedagogies to contend that multicultural pedagogy is a productive

start to one’s acquisition of an antiracist pedagogical approach. The comparability of how

multilingual students and students of color have been historically under-represented and under-

supported in education is one key similarity. The obligation of teachers to think critically about these

student populations to inform all aspects of their work (e.g., course and materials design,

assessment, grading, professional development) is another. Doing this kind of Critical Race Theory-

informed work means that adopting an antiracist pedagogy has the possibility to broaden and

strengthen the multilingual pedagogy that teachers of multilingual populations already practice, by

“addressing “the historical constructs that facilitate inequalities” for students of color,

“understanding the impact of race on opportunity,” and “explicit instruction on confronting racism

without reservation or risk of ostracism” (Blakeney, 2011, p. 120). Torres (2020) asserts that the

burden falls on not only teachers, who must re-evaluate their curriculum and daily classroom

practices, but also on students, who must work to understand the concepts of privilege and power,

and also on school administrations, who must be willing to interrogate their current structures and

practices through an antiracist lens. What results is a culturally-responsive praxis that has the

potential to improve the classroom experience for many diverse students.

A multilingual/antiracist pedagogy means doing the hard, necessary work for both classroom

teachers and administrators. Preto-Bay and Hansen (2006) assert in their article about meeting the

needs of changing (multilingual) student populations, “teacher commitment and systemic change

will… come about only if teachers are allowed to and expected to find their own strategies and

solutions within each classroom” (p. 52). And McKamey (2020) asserts in “What Anti-Racist

Teachers Do Differently,” “Educators at every level must be willing to be uncomfortable in their

struggle for black students, recognizing students’ power and feeding it by honoring their many

48 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

contributions to our schools.” But importantly, this must also be a top-down endeavor from an

administrative standpoint: “Principals [and program administrators, department chairs, deans, the

local school board] must clearly and consistently communicate the anti-racist vision for their school,

create professional-development opportunities for staff, recognize teachers who successfully teach

all of their students, and intervene when they see problems” (McKamey, 2020). But for this to

happen, of course, educational administrators must meet the moment—whether we are talking

about support for multilingual students and/or in creating an antiracist classroom (see Matsuda,

2012; Miller-Cochran, 2010; and Shuck, 2008 for more multilingual-focused administrative

discussion; see Clary-Lemon, 2009; García de Müeller, 2016; García de Müeller & Ruiz, 2017;

Perryman-Clark & Craig, n.d.; and Torres, 2020 for more antiracist-focused administrative

discussion).

One Common Approach: The Inclusive Classroom

Inclusive pedagogy is an umbrella term used recently to help define what can be considered a

combined multilingual/antiracist approach, and many voices have contributed to the conversation

of what makes an inclusive classroom. Gannon’s (2018) “The Case for Inclusive Teaching” in The

Chronicle of Higher Education advocates for “a genuine commitment to inclusive pedagogy,” including

treating all students equitably and ensuring all students have “full access” to the tools and resources

they need to be successful. Scott (2020) agrees, noting that “students learn more when they feel

included, welcomed, and treated part of the classroom community,” and that “students achieve

higher academic outcomes when there are positive student-teacher relationships and a sense that an

instructor cares about them.”

This entails not just focusing on individual, personal professional development, but also

being able to meet students where they are at every moment in the classroom. In “Teaching the

49 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

Students We Have, Not the Students We Wish We Had,” Goldrick-Rab and Stommel (2018)

recognize that today’s classrooms are more diverse than ever before, and supporting this diversity

“requires approaches that are responsive, inclusive, adaptive, challenging, and compassionate.”

Wheaton College Massachusetts Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning’s page “Becoming

an Anti-Racist Educator” (n.d.) also suggests that teachers “interrogate [their] expectations of the

‘ideal’ student,” and Columbia University’s Center for Teaching and Learning (n.d.) recommends

that teachers “foster a compassionate class community and meet students where they are at.”

Ultimately, this ethos of inclusivity is more than just a suggested reading list or a required in-service

workshop; inclusive pedagogy connects to the core of who we are as teachers, and also as human

beings. The common ground of inclusive pedagogy can be an excellent starting point to bridge

multilingual and antiracist pedagogies even more meaningfully.

How do we bridge the theoretical with the practical? In other words, all these ideas and

research are really informative and potentially advantageous… but how can we make it work for

ourselves, personally? For our classrooms, our students, our programs and departments and

institutions? As with most endeavors, one’s positionality and individual local context must be

considered when trying to implement multilingual and antiracist pedagogies on the ground and in

real life. Below I share my own local context and the ways in which I and many others at my

institution are attempting to enact this praxis.

Practical Strategies for Implementation (for Teachers and Administrators): Looking at the

Author’s Local Context

I am the Director of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and an Assistant Professor of

English at St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI, a private small liberal arts college that is

predominantly white—though our larger-than-expected incoming freshman class for Fall 2021 was

50 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

noted in a recent Inside Higher Ed article as being the most racially diverse on record with 13%

reported non-white (Jaschik, 2021). St. Norbert has a WAC program that requires all students to

take a writing intensive course within their first two years on campus, and “Communicate

Effectively” is one of seven Core Goals in our Core Curriculum (general education) program

initiative (“Core Curriculum”). In addition, almost all majors include a vested interest in and focus

on writing in the disciplines, and St. Norbert is fortunate to be able to offer extensive professional

development opportunities for faculty when needed. In addition to overseeing the WAC Program, I

also teach classes like College Writing (freshmen) and Professional Writing (juniors and seniors).

Below are lists of themed practices, strategies, and opportunities to implement multilingual

and/or antiracist pedagogies at my institution, St. Norbert College. The themes include suggestions

for day-to-day classroom practices, course- and program-level considerations, professional

development suggestions, and administrative concerns. Some of the items listed are actions I have

already taken in the last year; others are aspirational and are initiatives that I hope to implement in

the next year or two. Note that what follows is specific to my local context (e.g., at a private four-

year college); the application of multilingual and antiracist pedagogies in your local context may

differ depending on a variety of factors. It is not an exhaustive list; rather, what follows are simply

suggestions based on one person’s experience.

Day-to-Day Classroom Practices

Three strategies that I enact in daily class meetings to implement multilingual and antiracist

pedagogies:

● I use labor-based contract grading (Elbow, 2008; Inoue, 2015, 2019) in both my freshman

and junior/senior classes (also suggested in the “Antiracist WAC Toolkit” from Syracuse

University, n.d.)

51 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 ● Also informed by the “Antiracist WAC Toolkit” (n.d.), I offer many opportunities for

reflective writing. This is one informal writing opportunity I give my students; in addition, I

scaffold higher-stakes writing assignments with a lot of invention work and brainstorming,

wherein they are encouraged to write in whatever language or format in which they are most

comfortable.

● I plan to try community rubric building (“Antiracist WAC Toolkit,” n.d.) in the upcoming

semesters. After learning what the particular writing assignment will be and how it is

connected to the course learning goals, I will invite students to generate relevant assessment

criteria for the task.

● I am also considering adopting the edited collection This Ain’t Yesterday’s Literacy: Culture and

Education After George Floyd curated by Vershawn Ashanti Young (2020). This textbook

published by Fountainhead Press is a timely collection with units on George Floyd as a

cultural tipping point, allies and antiracist activism, and more.

Course- and Program-level Considerations

Three ways that I think about these pedagogies as they pertain to my class planning:

● When designing assignments, I avoid U.S.-centric pop culture-based references, and I keep

in mind that “topics such as sexuality, criticism of authority, political beliefs, personal

experiences, and religious beliefs” may be sensitive for students of different cultural and

educational backgrounds” (CCCC, 2020a).

● I provide multiple options for students to complete an assignment (CCCC, 2020a). For

example, a student can respond to an online discussion forum by typing their response or by

recording a video or audio clip. Or, I offer a variety of possible genres in which students can

compose (e.g., a traditional essay, a TED Talk-style video, a series of blog posts).

52 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 ● I also ensure that all my created documents are accessible for differently-abled students, a

nod to Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which is a tenet of inclusive pedagogy (Scott,

2020).

● At the English Department (program) level, we instituted a new diversity literature

requirement for English majors. We also read So You Want To Talk About Race (Oluo, 2018)

as a department and discussed it as part of a recent curriculum revision.

Professional Development Suggestions

Beyond the classroom, the following are opportunities for St. Norbert faculty, students, and/or

staff to engage in antiracist work:

● This past year, St. Norbert offered a six-week Virtual Anti-Racism Workshop through the

Cassandra Voss Center, with training sessions available for faculty/staff and for students.

● In future semesters, I will be offering multi-day workshops for implementing labor-based

contract grading and other anti-racist practices. The required training to onboard new

teachers of writing intensive classes will also include training in multilingual, antiracist, and

inclusive pedagogies.

● I am also currently drafting proposals to lower course caps of writing intensive courses to 15

or 20 students, a best practice noted in the “Principles for the Postsecondary Teaching of

Writing” (CCCC, 2015) and the “Statement on Second Language Writing and Multilingual

Writers” (CCCC, 2020a).

Administrative Concerns

Finally, the following has been accomplished at the administrative level:

● In response to the racial reckoning in Summer 2020, St. Norbert shared a statement of

antiracism on their website, “Working for Racial Justice at SNC: Vision, Strategy and

53 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 Commitment” (2020). This statement included strategies and goals to guide and sustain the

College’s racial justice efforts, including in curricular and co-curricular development, student

and faculty recruitment and retention, campus climate, and community outreach.

● Our website also makes available a number of key resources and statements, including a

“Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (n.d.) from the Office of Diversity Affairs

and a Land Acknowledgement Statement (2018) that recognizes the enduring relationship of

our local Indigenous Peoples from the Menomonee nation.

● St. Norbert hired a new Dean of Curriculum and Senior Diversity Officer to start in Summer

2021, an individual hired specifically to help the College implement our robust equity,

diversity, and inclusion goals, as well as to assist in curriculum development.

Potential Challenges and Pitfalls

Of course, there are limitations to applying and enacting these pedagogies. Blakeney (2011)

acknowledges that those pursuing this task will likely feel some “cognitive dissonance” (p. 126)—

realizing one’s own racist tendencies, histories, and beliefs (latent or manifest); and/or recognizing

the racist histories inherent in policies, structures, or policies in the workplace can be emotionally

challenging. Torres (2020) notes that individuals may experience feelings of guilt (e.g., white guilt,

privilege guilt). The thought of transforming an entire school or program to be more antiracist can

feel overwhelming—Where can one start? Obstacles within the local context also abound (e.g.,

acquiring funding for professional development and hiring, providing teachers with adequate time to

revise curriculum and assignments). The key is to articulate what steps can be taken, what actions can

be implemented, to move toward a place of action. Kishimoto (2016) posits that “anti-racist

teaching highlights learning as a life-long process” (p. 5), and that can include acknowledging any

potential pitfalls in the planning stages and meeting each challenge as it arises.

54 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

Conclusion

Planning lessons, designing assignments, and directing programs with multilingual students

in mind is already the start of an antiracist practice. And setting an intention to commit to antiracist

pedagogy by interrogating present educational structures through the lens of race is a decision that

inherently supports multilingual students as well. Kishimoto (2016) notes that “Anti-racist pedagogy

is not a prescribed method that can simply be applied to our teaching… [It] is an intentional and

strategic organizing effort” on the part of teachers and administrators (p. 12). Multilingual pedagogy

requires this same kind of concerted effort. While a multilingual/antiracist praxis is typically adopted

by teachers to support multilingual students and/or students of color, in reality, incorporating these

pedagogies into our teaching lives has wider and more comprehensive benefits for all students.

Gannon (2018) asserts that “the beauty of inclusive pedagogy is that, rather than making special

accommodations that would decrease equity, it actually benefits all students, not just those at whose

needs it was originally aimed” (emphasis in original). Adopting a pedagogy that is both multilingual

and antiracist requires a commitment to awareness-raising, resource-finding, and support-building.

This is a challenge that today’s teachers and administrators should be excited and ready to embrace.

55 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 References

Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New

Press.

Antiracist WAC toolkit. (n.d.) Syracuse University College of Arts & Sciences.

https://thecollege.syr.edu/writing-studies-rhetoric-and-composition/writing-across-

curriculum/antiracist-wac-toolkit/

Blackwell, D. M. (2010). Sidelines and separate spaces: Making education anti-racist for

students of color. Race, Ethnicity, and Education 13(4), 473-494.

Blakeney, A. M. (2011). Antiracist pedagogy: Definition, theory, purpose, and professional

development. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy 2(1), 119-32.

Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning. (n.d.) Becoming an anti-racist educator.

Wheaton College Massachusetts. https://wheatoncollege.edu/academics/special-projects-

initiatives/center-for-collaborative-teaching-and-learning/anti-racist-educator/

Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Anti-racist pedagogy in action: First steps.

Columbia University in the City of New York. https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-

technology/resources/anti-racist-pedagogy/

Clary-Lemon, J. (2009) The racialization of composition studies: Scholarly rhetoric of race

since 1990. College Composition and Communication 61(2), W1-W17.

Conference on College Composition and Communication. (1974). Students’ right to their own

language. CCCC.NCTE.org https://prod-ncte-

cdn.azureedge.net/nctefiles/groups/cccc/newsrtol.pdf

Conference on College Composition and Communication. (2015). Principles for the postsecondary

teaching of writing. https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/postsecondarywriting

56 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 Conference on College Composition and Communication. (2020a). CCCC statement on second

language writing and multilingual writers. CCCC.NCTE.org.

https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/secondlangwriting

Conference on College Composition and Communication. (2020b). This ain’t another statement!

This is a DEMAND for Black linguistic justice! CCCC.NCTE.org.

https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/demand-for-black-linguistic-justice

Core Curriculum. (n.d.) St. Norbert College. Retrieved June 7, 2021, from

https://www.snc.edu/academics/catalog/corecurriculum.html

DiAngelo, R. (2019). White fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism. Penguin.

Elbow, P. (2008). A unilateral grading contract to improve learning and teaching [co-written

with Jane Danieleicz]. College Composition and Communication 61(2), 244-268.

Gannon, K. (2018). The case for inclusive teaching. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-case-for-inclusive-teaching/

García de Müeller, G. (2016). WPA and the new civil rights movement. WPA: Writing

Program Administration 39(2), 36-41.

García de Müeller, G. & Ruiz, I. (2017). Race, silence, and writing program administration: A

qualitative study of US college writing programs. WPA: Writing Program Administration 40(2),

19-39. http://associationdatabase.co/archives/40n2/40n2mueller_ruiz.pdf

Goldrick-Rab, S. & Stommel, J. (2018). Teaching the students we have, not the students we wish we

had. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/teaching-the-

students-we-have-not-the-students-we-wish-we-had/

57 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 Haynes, C. (2017). Dismantling the white supremacy embedded in our classrooms: White

faculty in pursuit of more equitable educational outcomes for racially minoritized students.

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 29(1), 87-107.

Horner, B., Lu, M.Z., Royster, J.J., and Trimbur, J. (2011). Opinion: Language difference in

writing: Toward a translingual approach. College English 73(3), 303-321.

Inoue, A. B. (2015). Antiracist writing assessment ecologies: Teaching and assessing writing for a socially

just future. WAC Clearinghouse. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/perspectives/inoue/

Inoue, A. B. (2017). Foreword: On antiracist agendas. In F. Condon & V. A. Young (Eds.),

Performing antiracist pedagogy in rhetoric, writing, and communication (pp. xi-xx). WAC

Clearinghouse. https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/antiracist/pedagogy.pdf

Jaschik, S. (2021). An unlikely success in admissions. Inside Higher Ed.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/05/24/st-norbert-colleges-

unlikely-good-year-admissions

Kailin, J. (2002). Antiracist Education: From Theory to Practice. Rowman & Littlefield.

Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to Be An Antiracist. Random House.

Kishimoto, K. (2016). Anti-racist pedagogy: from faculty’s self-reflection to organizing

within and beyond the classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education 21(4), 540-554.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1248824

Matsuda, P. K. (1999). Composition studies and ESL writing: A disciplinary division of

labor. College Composition and Communication, 50(4), 699-721.

Matsuda, P. K. (2006). The myth of linguistic homogeneity in U.S. college composition.

College English 68(6), 637-651.

58 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 Matsuda, P. K. (2012). Let’s face it: Language issues and the writing program administrator.

WPA: Writing Program Administration, 36(1), 141-163.

McKamey, P. (2020). What anti-racist teachers do differently. The Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2020/06/how-be-anti-racist-

teacher/613138/

Miller, E. Evaluating and grading multilingual writing. Writing Across the Curriculum.

https://dept.writing.wisc.edu/wac/evaluating-and-grading-multilingual-writing/

Miller-Cochran, S. K. (2010). Language diversity and the responsibility of the WPA. In

Horner, B., Lu, M. Z., & Matsuda, P. K. (Eds.), Cross-Language Relations in Composition (p. 212-

220). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Monckton, P. (2020). This is why millions of people are posting black squares on Instagram. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulmonckton/2020/06/02/blackout-tuesday-instagram-

black-squares-blackouttuesday-theshowmustbepaused/?sh=64cc3f022794

Montell, G. (2019). The incredible whiteness of higher education. The Education Trust.

https://edtrust.org/the-equity-line/the-incredible-whiteness-of-higher-education/

National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). English language learners: A policy research brief.

NCTE.org. https://cdn.ncte.org/nctefiles/resources/policyresearch/ellresearchbrief.pdf

Office of Diversity Affairs. (n.d.). Statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

https://www.snc.edu/diversityaffairs/docs/snc-statement-on-diversity.pdf

Oluo, I. (2018). So You Want to Talk About Race. Seal Press.

Perryman-Clark, S. M. & Craig, C. L. Black perspectives in writing program administration. NCTE:

National Council of Teachers of English. https://ncte.org/black-perspectives-in-writing-

program-administration-web-resources/

59 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 Preto-Bay, A. M. and Hansen, K. (2006). Preparing for the tipping point: Designing writing

programs to meet the needs of the changing population. WPA: Writing Program

Administration, 3(1-2), 37-57.

Resources for working with multilingual writers. (n.d.) Writing Across the Curriculum.

https://dept.writing.wisc.edu/wac/resources-for-working-with-multilingual-writers/

Saad, L. F. (2020). Me and white supremacy: Combat racism, change the world, and become a good

ancestor.

Scott, I. (2020). On becoming a more inclusive educator. The Scholarly Teacher.

https://www.scholarlyteacher.com/post/on-becoming-a-more-inclusive-educator

Shuck, G. (2008). Combating monolingualism: A novice administrator’s challenge. WPA:

Writing Program Administration, 30(1-2), 59-82.

St. Amour, M. (2020). What happens before college matters. Inside Higher Ed.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/20/black-students-need-changes-policies-

and-structures-beyond-higher-education

St. Norbert College land acknowledgement statement. (2018). St. Norbert College.

https://www.snc.edu/diversityaffairs/SNCLandStatement.html#whatis

Torres, C. (2020). All students need anti-racism education. Learning for Justice.

https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/all-students-need-antiracism-education

Veira, K. (n.d.) An introduction to multilingual writers at UW-Madison. Writing Across the

Curriculum. https://dept.writing.wisc.edu/wac/an-introduction-to-multilingual-writers-at-

uw-madison/

Young, V. A. (2007). Your average nigga: Performing race, literacy, and masculinity. Wayne State

University Press.

60 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021

 Young, V. A. (2013). Keep code-meshing. In Canagarajah, A. S. (Ed.), Literacy as translingual

practice: Between communities and classrooms (pp. 139-145). Routledge.

Young, V. A. (Ed.). (2020). This ain’t yesterday’s literacy: Culture and education after George Floyd.

Fountainhead Press.

Young, V.A., Barrett, R., Young-Riviera, Y., and Lovejoy, K.B. (2014). Other people’s English:

Code-meshing, code-switching, and African American literacy. Teachers College Press.

Working for racial justice at SNC: Vision, strategy and commitment. (2020). St. Norbert College.

https://www.snc.edu/antiracism/actionplan.html

61 Wisconsin English Journal Volume 63, Number 2 Fall 2021