No abstract

In this qualitative study, mainstream teacher candidates in a secondary teacher education program were asked to incorporate academic English instruction into their lesson planning and implementation in fieldwork placement classrooms. Teacher candidates attended a training session in which one method for identifying academic English features was taught. Artifacts, classroom observations, and interviews from four teacher candidates were analyzed to determine what features of academic English were identified and how these were taught to high school students. While all four teacher candidates accurately identified features of academic English in their lessons, only two participants taught features of academic English to students. The experiences of the participants illustrated that teacher candidates need, in addition to the ability to identify features of academic English, knowledge about how to teach language, a commitment to teaching language in their lessons, and the support of university supervisors and supervising practitioners who possess the same knowledge and commitment.

This chapter will explore how teachers work for social justice by advocating for emergent bilinguals. Four sites in which advocacy can be enacted—the classroom, the school, family and community, and larger sociopolitical structures—are used as a framework for organizing the research. Each section begins with a real scenario experienced by a teacher of emergent bilinguals. These scenarios serve to illustrate the need to promote social justice and equity in that site. Each section will then outline practices, beliefs, and frameworks highlighted in recent research. In the classroom, effective curricular and instructional decisions will be explored. Ideas for collaborative structures in the school are described. Effective methods of outreach to families and community partners are discussed, and activism in society and political organizations is explained as a necessary step to improve the long-term outcomes of emergent bilinguals in school and society.

The preparation of history teachers has not traditionally included a focus on teaching the language of history. However, in order to think like historians, students in middle and high school history classrooms must learn to read and write like historians. This article describes how two preservice history teachers identified and taught language in fieldwork placements. Their experiences illustrate the challenges that history teachers face in incorporating meaningful language instruction. The findings suggest that training preservice and in-service teachers to identify and teach the language of history would be necessary to ensure that language instruction is implemented in history classrooms.