Designing Linguistic Participation in EFL
Project members: Anni Lenz (doctoral researcher), Bianca Roters (supervisor, University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany)
This research project explores how inclusive task design can create meaningful opportunities for linguistic participation in heterogeneous EFL classrooms. It focuses on the interplay between linguistic accessibility, learner engagement and agency, asking how tasks can provide sufficient structure and support while remaining open to diverse linguistic resources, pathways and forms of expression.
Drawing on perspectives from inclusive language learning, multilingualism and task-based language teaching, the project develops the concept of adaptive structured openness as a guiding principle for inclusive EFL task design. Particular attention is given to story-based and meaning-oriented tasks that enable learners to contribute at different levels of linguistic complexity while participating in a shared communicative space.
The project contributes to an emerging framework of Inclusive Linguistics, which examines how linguistic knowledge can inform the design and analysis of learning environments that enable access, meaningful contribution, interaction, voice and agency in EFL education.
Guiding Question: How can (story-based) tasks enable meaningful linguistic participation in heterogeneous EFL classrooms?
Project Activities & Outputs
Conference Presentations & Workshops:
Lenz, A. & Roters, B. Re-imagining Human Rights Education through Storytelling: Malala’s Magic Pencil in Early EFL Teacher Education. TEFL 10 Conference, Nova University Lissabon (November 2026)
„Unterricht weiterdenken: Individuelle Lernwege im digitalen Zeitalter“ (23.9.2026), Pädagogisches Landesinstituts Rheinland-Pfalz, Workshop (online)
Doctoral Research Project:
Anni Lenz: Towards Inclusive Future Literacies: From Collecting Words to Imagining Futures – A Design-Based Study in the Early EFL Classroom
Publications:
forthcoming
Research–Teaching Connection:
Selected courses provide development and reflection spaces in which pre-service teachers analyse, design and evaluate inclusive EFL tasks. Particular attention is given to the relationship between linguistic accessibility, meaningful communication, learner choice and flexible forms of participation.
Linguistic Accessibility in the EFL Classroom