IntroductionDiversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability (DEIS) in language education
The discourse of sustainability has long been associated with environmental protection, but recent additions include economic health and societal equity. As an effort to advance the discourse of sustainability, this Special Issue views diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as indispensable for sustainability. There is no sustainability without celebration of diversity, and there is no sustainability without equity and inclusion. Contributors to this Special Issue advance the research agenda in language education in that their works call for the integration of DEI as a means of reaching sustainable language classroom. This has led to the creation of a diversity, equity, inclusion and sustainability (DEIS) framework in language education. In this article I argue that amalgamating diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability in one comprehensive framework is vital to creating powerful, holistic strategies that promote a resilient language classroom where students thrive and their voices heard. Teaching language from a DEIS perspective helps break down the target language privilege associated with a monolingual ideology. DEIS-underpinned initiatives in the classroom could turn projects into outcomes that bring about educational transformations. Central to all articles in this Special Issue is the realisation that DEIS-inflected language education empowers teachers to create an accessible and supportive environment where students belong and feel empowered to participate actively in and contribute positively to the learning process. All these points are pertinent to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 (Reduced Inequalities) and 10 (Quality Education), serving as a direct response to problems concerning inequalities and as a foundation for the establishment of quality education.
Publication history
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has garnered scholarly interest among scholars of various disciplinary backgrounds, including child welfare (Nichols & McAuliffe, 2023), media practice (Erhart, Henry, & Godfrey, 2025), and chemical education (Rogers & Pagano, 2023). As varied as the DEI-inflected perspectives in those disciplinary backgrounds are, and while studies focusing on DEI in language education have appeared (e.g., Dion, 2020; Wassell & Koch, 2023), Finardi, Orsini-Jones, and Hashim (2025) is perhaps a pioneering Special Issue in building the connection between Applied Linguistics and DEI. Finardi, et al. (2025) focuses on decolonial approaches to DEI in Applied Linguistics, offering insights into addressing local and global challenges. This present Special Issue focuses on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Sustainability (DEIS) in Language Education, advancing the scholarly discussion which Finardi, et al. (2025) have initiated. On the one hand, this Special Issue takes a zooming-in-approach because it delves specifically into language education, which is an integral, and perhaps the most prominent, part of Applied Linguistics. On the other hand, the Special Issue also extends on Finardi, et al. (2025) by adding a sustainability dimension to build an all-encompassing framework, hence the abbreviation DEIS.