EFL demographic is important because of their role overseeing EFL teachers, assessing and strategical-ly implementing curricula, and doing educational research.

Literature Review

2.1 Social justice education in bilingual education programs

While SJE research in Costa Rica started slowly from the 1990s onward (Locke, 2009; Silva, Slater, Gorosave et al., 2017; Slater, Gorosave, Silva et al., 2017), recognition of SJE as prerequisite for academ-ic and socio-emotional success generally (Hymel & Katz, 2019) now prompts calls for curricula that celebrate SJE-related diversity and foster anti-bias classroom environments (Araujo & Strasser, 2003; Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2021; Hymel & Katz, 2019). This has redoubled significance when cultur-ally and linguistically diverse groups of students are present (Acosta et al., 2024; Woodley et al., 2017). While such environments can increase students’ self-esteem and feelings of self-worth, promote the values of tolerance and respect for all, and thus po-tentially grow closer as a community at large, they also increase the likelihood of academic, especial-ly in early K-12 EFL instruction (Tedick & Wesely, 2015). This again demonstrates the co-implication of academic and identity attainment in education.

Grades 1 to 6 school teachers play a significant role in this task. Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2021) highlight that children have already begun to develop their social identity and discover other groups by age 4. For Araujo and Strasser (2003), “teachers should move themselves and their children from a level of awareness to tolerance for diversity to celebrating diversity” (p. 180). Brochin (2019) adds that “without explicitly connecting more gen-eral issues of inequity and social justice to [for ex-ample] gender expression and sexuality, bilingual and multicultural education can potentially make the mistake of encouraging teachers to become ad-vocates for some marginalized groups while inad-vertently silencing others” (pp. 81-82).

Teachers’ diversity commitments must include affirmation, solidarity, critique, and continued ex-ploration and discussion of students’ and teachers’ values as a regular practice embedded within the curriculum (Araujo & Strasser, 2003; Acosta et al., 2024). This is not some set-aside period of the class-room (otherwise taking time away from other edu-cational activities) but an integrated and continuous activity that occurs ad hoc as occasions arise. At root, this simply involves fostering mutual respect among everyone present, but such conversations are especially relevant for confronting existing prejudic-es in schools. Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2021) suggest that teachers actively attend to children’s developing perceptions and feelings about their identities and those of others to “foster their ability to gain accurate knowledge, … develop self-esteem, [and] … counter misinformation, unease, or hurtful ideas about members of various racialized groups” (p. 37). As they note, “Diversity does not cause prej-udice, nor does children noticing and talking about differences, as some adults fear” (p. 37; c.f., Crary, 1992). Solidarity and allyship between colleagues, school administrators, and like-minded parents also is critical if social justice education is to move be-yond surface-level effects (Brochin, 2019; Murray, 2011; Ryan & Hermann-Wilmarth, 2018).

2.2 Storybooks as teaching resources

While teachers are not necessarily prepared, trained, or know how to approach teachable mo-ments that arise spontaneously and unplanned in classrooms, they also do not need to wait for them to happen in order to include them in their every-day planning (Acosta et al., 2024; Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2021). In particular, storybooks—i.e., digital or printed media containing a story or col-lection of stories intended for children—afford a ready resource for teachers to engage children in meaningful activities around critically confront-ing prejudice and celebrating diversity. Araujo and Strasser (2003) advise teachers to use a range of materials (including picture books) that reflect “children, adults, and diverse family configura-tions of various racial and ethnic makeup engaged