Empowering towards democratic futures

Project members: Rachelle Breuer, Anni Lenz, Bianca Roters (University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany) & Julia Fuchs (Doris-Leibinger-Grundschule Ditzingen)

EFL Resilience Education supports students in developing linguistic, emotional, and cognitive resilience while fostering a growth mindset. Rooted in social equity, it ensures all learners—regardless of background—can express themselves, tell their stories, and participate in meaningful communication. The project empowers school students through digital storytelling and inclusive reading practices. These activities promote empathy, agency, and democratic awareness by engaging with diverse, multimodal texts that reflect multiple identities and perspectives. They also include focused support for developing phonological awareness, helping students—particularly beginners and multilingual learners—strengthen foundational literacy skills through rhythmic, engaging, and sound-rich texts. Integrating these perspectives in teacher education, pre-service EFL teachers are prepared through targeted learning arrangements to:

• understand how reading fosters both critical thinking and early literacy skills, such as phonological awareness
• analyze diverse texts and digital tools for classroom use
• design, implement, and reflect on pedagogical practices that link (digital) storytelling, reading, student agency, and social justice
• engage with principles of inclusive and democratic education, thereby incorporating empathy as a key element of classroom practice

Pre-service EFL teachers create and test learning scenarios that:

• support phonemic awareness through purposeful, sound-focused reading strategies
• foster inclusive literacy in (multilingual) EFL classrooms
• use literature to spark dialogue and critical reflection, thereby exploring civic education and global issues, e.g. in picture books or graphic novels

This two-fold perspective ensures that school students benefit from creative, inclusive activities that build literacy, resilience, and democratic engagement. Moreover, EFL pre-service teachers are equipped to deliver effective, justice-oriented, and sound-based reading instruction as part of a (digital) storytelling unit.

In brief, this approach:

• centers student agency through storytelling and responsive text engagement
• integrates social justice by affirming diversity and promoting equitable participation
• promotes inclusion through fair access to tools, materials, and differentiated literacy support—including phonemic development

News
project presentation:
Breuer, Rachelle & Roters, Bianca: Promoting Social Equity and Inclusion through Digitally-Mediated Reading Tasks in Pre-Service EFL Teacher Education. 21st ISATT Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching, University of Glasgow (July 2025)

Anni, Lenz (2025). Promoting Meta-Linguistic and Metacognitive Abilities Using English Picture Books – a Comparative Analysis of Special Needs and Primary School EFL Contexts (unpublished MA thesis).