Teacher-educators who are aware of differences that present themselves in diverse student populations must increasingly work to help teachers to connect with students in ways that allow them to improve literacy outcomes. Despite its potential for helping to address the needs of diverse students, awareness of culture and language often tends to be touted primarily as an expectation for teachers who work in K-12 schools and classrooms. It is less visible as a requirement for teacher-educators, despite the ever-increasing need for them to have the skills and expertise to guide teachers who work with culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDs) in underperforming schools. This study was therefore developed to show the ways in which teacher-educators demonstrated awareness of language and culture while supporting the instructional literacy practices of in-service teachers and the literacy learning of CLDs. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to identify the elements of critical multilingual and critical multicultural awareness displayed by three literacy educators, who were supporting students' writing practices in diverse K-12 literacy classrooms within a research-practice partnership, over a period of one academic year. Findings show that the educators reflected awareness in their support for CLDs' literacies as they experienced transitions, confronted deficit views, capitalised on verbal, visual and written scaffolds with students and teachers, and fostered authenticity. The study presents implications for literacy educators who wish to reflect awareness when responding to CLDs' literacies in schools.John, a middle-school English language arts (ELA) teacher for five years, was recently asked to transfer to a 'turnaround' campus to support the diverse literacy needs of this student population, using the balanced literacy model. As John quickly realised, the demographics of the campus were quite different from his previous experiences. Challenged by the new setting, John's principal offered the support of a literacy teacher-educator from a nearby university with whom her school had previously worked. While John felt eager to learn, he also wondered whether the educator would have sufficient 'hands-on' experience with the culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDs) 1 in his setting to be able to help him implement balanced literacy for this diverse student population.Teacher-educators who are aware of differences presenting themselves in diverse student populations must increasingly work to help teachers connect with students in ways that allow them to improve literacy outcomes (Haddix, 2017;Risko et al.,
This study examined the elements of [critical] multicultural awareness ([C]MA) and [critical] multilingual awareness ([C]MLA) identified in the pedagogical responsiveness of five literacy teacher educators (LTEs), the factors that influenced such awareness, and the ways in which these forms of awareness shaped educators' pedagogical responsiveness in literacy. Findings based on data from LTEs' Scholarly Personal Narratives (SPNs) and comprehensive bi-weekly reports showed that educators reflected certain elements of [C]MA and [C]MLA as they worked with teachers to support writing instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDs).Factors influencing awareness were assumptions based on otherness and teaching experience, positioning, observations related to literacy expertise, and discipline. Awareness, in turn, influenced educators' pedagogical responsiveness as they developed the ability to capitalize on linguistic and cultural difference. Implications for teacher educators' awareness and responsiveness are highlighted.
Teacher educators who are aware of differences that present themselves in diverse student populations must increasingly work to help teachers connect with students in ways that allow them to improve literacy outcomes. Despite an emphasis on teachers' potential to address the needs of diverse students, teacher educators' awareness of culture and language for students in K-12 schools and classrooms is often less explored. Such knowledge is critical as teacher educators face the ever-increasing need to develop the necessary skills and expertise for guiding in-service teachers who work with culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDs) in underperforming schools. This study was therefore developed to show the ways in which literacy teacher educators demonstrated awareness of language and culture while supporting the instructional literacy practices of inservice teachers and the literacy learning of CLDs. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to identify the elements of multilingual and multicultural awareness displayed by three literacy teacher educators supporting students' writing practices in diverse K-12 literacy classrooms within a research-practice partnership over a period of one academic year. A secondary goal of the study was to describe the successes experienced by these educators with the in-service teachers and students within the classrooms where they worked. Though modest, findings from this study provide insights about how multilingual and multicultural awareness can prove useful to literacy teacher educators, who struggle to address diversity while supporting teachers and their CLDs' literacies in underperforming and diverse schools.
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