English language education in times of adversities - Supporting students’ communicative agency and resilience in the context of polycrisis

Matz, Frauke

Abstract

It might seem a commonplace observation that the world in which children and adolescents are currently growing up is changing rapidly, but in an educational context it should be viewed as a pressing concern. In the context of the current polycrisis, three recent UNICEF studies focus on these changes: The Changing Childhood Project (UNICEF 2021a), which explores these transformations on a more general level, The State of the Worlds’ Children 2021 report (UNICEF 2021c), which highlights mental health challenges faced by young people, and the Prospects for Children in the Polycrisis (UNICEF 2023), which analyses how current events specifically impact children. These studies clearly show that the impact of the polycrisis on children’s and young adults’ mental health is im-mense, but that, amongst other aspects, schools can serve as protective factor. Particularly The State of the Worlds’ Children 2021 report (UNICEF 2021c) hints at the potential role resilience can have in this context not only in coping with adversities, but also be more prepared in these uncertain times. The indication seems to be that children and young adults should not only be afforded the “responsibility, but also the voice, freedom, and agency” to shape their future (UNICEF 2021a). Considering the role English has as a lingua franca in this in-terconnected and changing world, one of the challenges is how English (as a foreign) language education can support language students in finding their voice and gaining and retaining resilience and communicative agency in times of adversities. Following a dialogical approach, this theoretical-conceptual con-tribution uses these studies as a starting point to explore on a thematic level what it might require for the language classroom to be a space conducive to supporting students in becoming (communicatively) resilient and being able to respond/react to events with extreme impact that will shape their lives.