L2 Journal

From the perspective of two instructors of Chinese in US postsecondary education, this article provides insights into integrating social justice education in intermediate-level world language classrooms. Guided by the multiliteracies pedagogy framework for language education (Paesani et al., 2023) and the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition’s (CARLA) “Social Justice Lesson Plan Template” (2024), we introduced new text types—including a movie trailer and dating app profiles—for a lesson on the topic of dating and scaffolded social justice content for language learning. Instructors worked with students to identify existing stereotypes of gender and sexuality. Together, we challenged the hegemonic norms represented in the textbook and created new materials for gender-inclusive language. To empower student voices, we invited them to adapt the dating stories and design a dating profile. After presenting their work in small groups, students further engaged in critical reflection by writing an individual essay on their design. This article not only demonstrates ways to utilize multimodal texts, but also illustrates strategies to engage language students critically, creatively, and collaboratively in social justice content. By sharing our theoretical framework and teaching experience, we aim to foster more pedagogical transformation that integrates social justice education into intermediate-level language learning.