Learning From Students, Teachers, and Schools: Field-Based Teacher Education for Emergent Bilingual Learners

Abstract

Today’s schools are more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before, prompting the need for teachers with the requisite expertise for work with emergent bilingual learners. As students grow in numbers and fill seats in classrooms spanning grades and disciplines, teacher educators must consider ways to prepare an increasing number of teachers, including those spanning licensure areas. This research probed one university’s efforts to prepare all teacher candidates for this growing subgroup of students through a field-based undergraduate teacher education program in the urban Midwest. Using artifact data from 29 program completers and survey and interview data from five focal teachers spanning licensure areas, this study investigated how particular facets of the field-based program promoted or deterred candidates’ learning across the 4-year program and into teachers’ first year of teaching. Implications center on how universities can leverage field-based teacher education to prepare future teachers for diverse classrooms.

Decentralization, teacher quality, and the education of English learners: Do state education agencies effectively prepare teachers of Els?

“…In addition to strong content and pedagogical foundations, educators of ELs benefit from teacher preparation that includes field-based experience with ELs (Bollin, 2007;Fitts & Gross, 2012;Pappamihiel, 2007). Field experiences can further help teachers recognize and capitalize on students' cultural and linguistic capital (González et al, 1995;Smolcic & Martin, 2019).…”

“…When coursework or a practicum is required, semester credits and field experience hours vary from 12-20 and 45-100, respectively. Variations for credentialing in these SEAs is problematic considering research that suggests the importance of a rigorous specialist program (López & Santibañez, 2018;Menken, 2001), which includes fieldwork (Fitts & Gross, 2012). Some SEAs have unique requirements.…”

Missed Opportunity: How Induction Policy Fails to Explicitly Address English Learner-Classified Students

“…Amid a growing body of work on asset-, equity-, and justice-oriented preservice teacher education (e.g., Souto-Manning, 2019), induction has received considerably less attention. There is evidence of the benefits of induction on beginning teachers' equity orientations (Bianchini & Brenner, 2010) and science instruction for ELC students (Ortega et al, 2013), and evidence that a deliberate focus on ELC students from undergraduate preparation through induction benefits teachers (Heineke & Giatsou, 2020). But overall, more research is needed on "mentoring for equity," that is, inservice coaching and support for teaching in diverse classrooms (Achinstein & Athanases, 2010).…”

“…Induction holds particular promise for novice teachers of ELC students who may lack real-world experience teaching them as the complex and diverse group that they are. We know little, however, about induction’s potential for supporting novice teachers of ELC students (Achinstein & Athanases, 2010; Heineke & Giatsou, 2020; Ortega et al, 2013). Our study aims to contribute to this body of knowledge.…”

Beyond Language and Academics: Investigating Teachers’ Preparation to Promote the Social-Emotional Well-Being of Emergent Bilingual Learners

“…With large and growing numbers of EBLs spanning schools, classrooms, and programs, more teachers require preparation for this population, which has subsequently garnered attention in the research literature (e.g., Heineke & Giatsou, 2020; Lucas et al, 2008; Solano-Campos et al, 2020). At many universities, teacher educators have embraced the need to prepare preservice teachers for EBLs, focusing on (a) fostering positive and inclusive perceptions of students and families and (b) scaffolding and modifying content-area instruction for students’ developing language (Villegas et al, 2018).…”