Content‐Area Teachers’ Appropriation of Language Development Practices During Professional Learning

Abstract

Persistent inequalities in the education of multilingual students make the effective integration of content and language instruction an urgent issue for theory and practice. This article contributes to the literature on content and language integration by exploring empirically the relationship between teacher learning and changes in teacher practice. The study was situated in a professional learning program for middle school content‐area teachers of multilingual youth. The author uses case study analysis to investigate how a team of three content‐area teachers took up and incorporated in practice ideas related to language‐focused instruction. The data analysis revealed a central contradiction that arose as the teachers engaged with instructional practices that were novel for them. The central contradiction, which remained unresolved for the duration of the professional development, consisted of privileging access to disciplinary content over opportunities for language development. The study offers recommendations for mitigating this contradiction in similar professional learning environments.