Refugee Concerns Newsletter - September 2026

Letter from the Chair

Fatima Aldajani, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

This letter introduces the new RCIS Chair, and a question this issue keeps returning to: who gets to narrate the refugee experience, and what does that authorship make visible, or leave out?

Letter from the Editor

Linda Molin-Karakoc, University College London, London, Greater London area, United Kingdom

Learn about leadership updates and engaging contributions from our members in this editorial, which introduces the themes and highlights of the latest RCIS newsletter issue. 

Educations Equity for Refugees

Alia Hadid, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI, USA
Melissa Hauber-Özer, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

With global displacement affecting millions of school-aged children, educators must move beyond deficit-based models to achieve true educational equity. This article highlights a recent special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, outlining a sustainable framework that integrates asset-based perspectives, humanizing pedagogies, and school-community partnerships.

Transforming the Classroom Into a Room for Healing: How Teachers Support Refugee Learners in Nigeria

Izuchukwu Light Chime, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria

In contexts of displacement, the classroom often becomes a space where teachers navigate students’ stories of pain, trauma and a thin thread of hope as thousands of refugees and internally displaced learners strive to rebuild their lives through education. This article exposes some of the realities teaching refugees in Nigeria entails, including the challenges educators face and strategies they use to transform classrooms into a small haven of hope. 

Embedding Digital Literacy Into ESL Writing Classes

Talley Caruso, Chabot College, Hayward, USA

For many adult learners, a smartphone is their primary gateway to the internet. This article explores practical ways to integrate digital literacy into ESL writing instruction, helping newcomers build academic skills and confidence transitioning from mobile to desktop technologies through guided, hands-on practice.

Book Review: Investment in Second Language Learning and Higher Education: Narratives of Syrian Refugees in Turkish Universities

Onur Özkaynak,  The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA 

Despite high volumes of immigration to the country, the educational experiences of Syrian refugee learners in Türkiye have remained underinvestigated, particularly from the perspectives of learners themselves. This article critically reviews a book that addresses this gap by focusing on Syrian refugees’ investment in second language learning and higher education through humanizing, asset-based frameworks.