This chapter discusses the role of creativity, narrative inquiry and meaning-making in making sense of systemic global crises and affirms their important role to play in helping young people deal with climate distress. Drawing on field work with the Dark Mountain Project, a cultural movement that grew out of the Dark Mountain manifesto published in 2009, it also describes how narrative repositioning can offer possibilities for opening up new ways of thinking and being. Using human–nature relationships as the focus for creative practice and inquiry into the narratives that frame each of our lives, participants in this project have broadened their experience of reality and worked through the difficult emotional states that arise with a growing awareness of the crisis occurring in the natural world. This kind of transformation of the ontological and epistemological foundation which frames a person’s lifeworld has the potential to engender a greater sense of belonging, especially if it is undertaken in a larger community of inquiry. By attending to processes of meaning-making in the way we address social and environmental problems, we may open up new avenues for thinking and acting, which help young people to become whole, healthy and resilient human beings in a time of global crises.

Drawing on recent developments from translanguaging theory, we argue in this chapter that translating and interpreting are by default translanguaging practices of meaning-making, during which process multilayered “translanguaging spaces” are being constantly and accumulatively created by dynamic interactional “moments” (Li, 2011) between the translator/interpreter and the external environment within the broader social–cultural contexts. These emerging insights from the key tenets of the translanguaging lens give rise to the construction of a unified theory of translating and interpreting aptitude consisting of a Macro level, Meso level, and Micro level (i.e., the 3M model), each level subsuming multiple interplaying elements interacting dynamically to generate multilayered translanguaging spaces of meaning-making.

Children begin to make meaning from the moment they are born. Their emerging abilities to communicate are central to the development of their thinking and imaginations; expression of their feelings and emotions; access to their cultural heritage(s); and, growth of their own unique identities. Learning how to mean and becoming literate continues to be critically important in shaping children and young people’s life chances. Yet it does not follow the same pattern for all children and cannot be reduced to a simple, linear hierarchy of skills (Ewing, 2020) or a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching those skills. Perhaps, because of its centrality to our lives and learning, becoming literate remains a complex and challenging area in education, broadly, but particularly in the primary classroom, where it is riddled with controversy. This book is underpinned by research and practice and reflects our serious commitment to every child’s entitlement to a rich and creative English and literacies education in the primary classroom.

In this chapter, we consider how youth make sense of their own retaliatory goals and actions in the aftermath of being harmed, and we elaborate on the implications of their meaning-making for processes of moral development and behavior. We begin by describing how youths’ experiences of revenge are distinct from other forms of harmdoing, and how these unique features of revenge may inform the meanings that they construct from their retaliatory desires and actions. Next, we describe age-related changes in these constructive processes, and discuss how youths’ histories of interactions in their social milieu may undergird their constructions of meaning about revenge. We conclude by articulating implications of our analyses for intervening with children and adolescents surrounding issues of revenge.

Desiring vengeance against those that hurt us is deeply human; justice systems are one means by which those desires can be contained and addressed in ways that avoid cycles of revenge. However, such systems require that people have trust in them. We begin with the relationship between institutional trust and the reduction of vengefulness. We then consider how youth develop their sense of institutional trust, with a particular emphasis on school justice systems in the K-12 context. We propose that a narrative approach to institutional trust might complement existing work, and outline strengths of that approach. We contrast retributive disciplinary and restorative justice systems in schools and consider how each of these systems looks from a narrative lens. Finally, we make recommendations for future research and practice based on ways that institutional trust, narrative, and school-based approaches to justice and discipline may reduce vengeful behavior and promote youths’ development.

Connections that help us feel valued and add value impact our health, happiness, love, work, and society. The consequences of mattering or not mattering can be seen everywhere, at every age. The lack of mattering often results in depression, suicide, and even aggression and xenophobia. People who suffer from depression, workers who feel alienated, and citizens whose identity is threatened feel devalued. They feel that their lives, work, and identity do not matter. While some respond to this situation by internalizing feelings of despondence, others overcompensate by nurturing feelings of superiority and joining nationalistic movements headed by authoritarian leaders. Feeling devalued or overvalued, in relationships, at work, and in the world, is one of the most serious threats facing us. They derive from a failure to foster mattering. They results can be disastrous for individuals and society as a whole. When disaffected masses feel that their identity is devalued in society, they respond in one of two ways. They either turn toward nationalism and extremism, as in the case of xenophobic movements, or they protest to defend their rights.

Chapter 6 introduces discourse analysis and explores some of the discursive tools that visitors use to inform, organize, and interpret experiences they have at the zoo. We highlight dialogue and metaphor as distinctly relevant discursive mechanisms for the learning that tends to occur as zoogoers negotiate multiple narratives and multisensory, emotional experiences during their visit – and simultaneously and subsequently integrate those experiences into their existing mental, narrative, and moral frameworks. Because nature and human–nature relationships are neither fixed nor uniform, we suggest that, rather than seek to enforce a singular narrative, agenda, and strategy for conservation, zoo leaders should focus on establishing and developing their spaces and their staff as flexible resources equipped to facilitate idea sharing and accountability through civic mechanisms of discourse development and dialogic exchange. Because on-site educators can deepen visitors’ engagement and retention of information but are not visitors’ sole source of ideas or information, we focus on how zoo staff can use context and metaphor to flexibly initiate or adapt discourse and dialogue to fit the setting and different zoogoers’ existing knowledge and intentions. We note that context becomes an important scaffold when spaces for knowledge sharing and reasoning enable diverse learners with varied foundational knowledge and perspectives to reach new levels of understanding, commitment, and conflict resolution.

The introduction explains the need for the book, describes its design, and introduces the methodological strands currently exhibited in the programs and curricula of language educators whose teaching reflects transformative education: principles and theory based on the works of (1) Mezirow and his followers Cranton and Taylor, (2) Freire, (3) Vygotsky, (4) Rogers and (5) Boyd and Habermas, (6) Dirkx, and (7) O’Sullivan, among others. The introduction follows the storyline told by the authors of the various chapters, depicting the appearance and growth of transformative language learning and teaching (TLLT), its current manifestations in the classroom, study abroad programs, the community, testing practices, and teacher preparation, and ending with a discussion of the morphing of TLLT’s Mezirowan cognitive base into a more affective and even spiritual approach. How these strands are treated within different educational contexts or treatments are pointed out. The classrooms and programs designed by the book’s authors weave a rich tapestry of variants of transformative education in the classroom, in study abroad programs, in extramural activities, and in the community; how these all exemplify current transformative education practices will be discussed. This chapter also points out the range of languages represented in the volume, including L2, EFL/ESL and bilingual education and how these three generally distinct fields form an organic whole. The intent of the introduction is to provide an overarching framework in which to understand the theory, praxis and programs of transformative education presented in the book.

This chapter draws attention to the Afrocentric linguistic and literacy practices of English-additional-language students in the department mechanical engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in reclaiming their rightful voice in recuperating the curriculum in the process of decolonisation. As part of a broader study, the author created a multimodal intervention for the students who were struggling to gain access to their discipline-specific language. The chapter reports on their elicited experiences in making sense of the curriculum by using these multimodal resources. From a theoretical perspective, the chapter draws on Hornberger’s continua of biliteracy model to provide us with a lens to discuss the responses and language practices of the participants. Questionnaires, focus group interviews and various excerpts gathered from texts produced by English-as-additional language students provided the data for the study. The findings point to dehegemonising practices and the restructuring of knowledge that recognises Afrocentric literacies and cultures.

Chapter 1 starts with a challenge that we seem to approach the current conditions of the world in which there is a simultaneously receding interest in issues of The Good, and an intensification in commitments to The Good. To move beyond the impasse of what could be characterised as a thoughtless relativism and a suffocating foundationalism, the author outlines the rationale for relational ethics. In this case, the ultimate value is placed on the nourishment of relational processes, the original source of moral value. However, in the contemporary world of conflicting traditions, recognition, awareness, and talents are required for encouraging and sustaining this process. Herein lies the major challenge for education. Sweeping reform may not meet this demand, as ethically consequential education can and should be integrated into the daily practices of school life. The chapter concludes that educational ethos, curriculum design, pedagogies, and evaluative practices are not simply techniques of knowledge transmission. When ethically informed, they hold the potential for life-giving transformation of global communities.