Preparing Teachers to Teach the Language of History

Abstract

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.