Research has indicated that heteronormativity in ESOL classrooms may prevent lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) students from producing meaningful language output and negotiating their identities in new social contexts (e.g., Liddicoat, 2009). This study aimed to understand (a) how LGBTQ+ students perceive the framing of sexual…

During the 2014-2015 academic year, the authors conducted roundtables related to queer identity in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classroom at Oregon Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ORTESOL's) fall and spring conferences and at an in-service day at Portland State University's Intensive English Language…

This article presents a case study of an English conversation class organised by a nonpolitical group of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) people in Japan. The primary aims of this study are to explore what kinds of learning needs these students had and to consider more generally how educators can best meet LGBT students' needs. Using…

Sexual identity is a topic that is relevant to adult ESL instruction, not only because some learners identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender), but also because LGBT identities are a visible part of American culture and ESL learners must learn how to discuss them in culturally and pragmatically appropriate ways. This article shares…

This article focuses on a subset of the student cohort that has, until recently, been largely hidden from view in the literature of language education: gay immigrants. Little is known about what sorts of classroom experiences gay immigrant students find engaging or alienating, or why this sort of knowledge is needed. This case study uses interview…