This seminar takes place on a Wednesday.

Abstract

Emotional literacy (i.e., the ability to recognize, navigate, and respond to emotions in oneself and others) is paramount in fostering meaningful learning environments, particularly for teachers working with migrant and language-minoritized students. While emotional intelligence has gained traction in education, socio-emotional literacy remains underexplored in language teacher professionalization and in multilingual classrooms. Teacher training programs have historically prioritized linguistic and pedagogical content, often overlooking the emotional and relational dimensions of teaching. However, emerging research suggests that socio-emotional literacy is foundational for supporting students’ well-being, particularly in contexts of migration, emergent multilingualism, and institutional inequity.
In this talk, I examine how translanguaging serves as a pedagogical lens through which teachers can (and in fact, do) attune to the socio-emotional realities of their multilingual students in different settings. Drawing on my work in the U.S. and the Netherlands, we will explore how teacher development and classroom experience mediate educators’ abilities to recognize and respond to affective dimensions of learning. I highlight how emotionally literate teachers cultivate self-awareness, empathy, and cultural sensitivity, allowing them to recognize shifts in student behavior, create emotionally responsive classroom spaces, and implement inclusive, asset-based practices. Rather than treating emotional literacy as a secondary concern, I argue that it is central to the work of language educators. A translanguaging approach not only legitimizes students’ full linguistic repertoires but also affirms their identities, their life trajectories as affective elements in learning, allowing for more humanizing pedagogies.