Situating Linguistically Responsive Instruction in Higher Education Contexts: Foundations for Pedagogical, Curricular, and Institutional Support

Equipping faculty to support multilingual learners in higher education: An online course model for faculty professional development

“…LRI is a pedagogical approach that aims to provide content‐language‐integrated instruction to meet the linguistic needs of multilingual learners (Lucas & Villegas, 2011, 2013). On a theoretical level, LRI recognizes language as inextricably intertwined with teaching and learning and that all teachers are therefore “teachers of the language of their disciplines” (Haan & Gallagher, 2022, p. 8). On a more practical level, LRI requires that faculty members develop certain pedagogical skills, such as the ability to “foster a comfortable learning environment; scaffold language by giving clear directions, use extra‐linguistic cues to indicate meaning; plan for student interaction; and attend to both form and function” (Haan & Gallagher, 2022, p. 8).…”

“…On a theoretical level, LRI recognizes language as inextricably intertwined with teaching and learning and that all teachers are therefore “teachers of the language of their disciplines” (Haan & Gallagher, 2022, p. 8). On a more practical level, LRI requires that faculty members develop certain pedagogical skills, such as the ability to “foster a comfortable learning environment; scaffold language by giving clear directions, use extra‐linguistic cues to indicate meaning; plan for student interaction; and attend to both form and function” (Haan & Gallagher, 2022, p. 8). Haan and Gallagher (2022) note that “TESOL faculty in higher education institutions can be an important resource for program planning and faculty development” (p. 9).…”

“…On a more practical level, LRI requires that faculty members develop certain pedagogical skills, such as the ability to “foster a comfortable learning environment; scaffold language by giving clear directions, use extra‐linguistic cues to indicate meaning; plan for student interaction; and attend to both form and function” (Haan & Gallagher, 2022, p. 8). Haan and Gallagher (2022) note that “TESOL faculty in higher education institutions can be an important resource for program planning and faculty development” (p. 9). As a full‐time composition instructor with a specialization in TESOL and a background working with multilingual learners, I used LRI as a theoretical frame to design an online professional development course for faculty across disciplines at my institution.…”

“…As Gallagher and Haan (2018) note, “faculty across disciplines increasingly face the demand of teaching discipline‐specific content while also facilitating language development” (p. 305). Meanwhile, many faculty across disciplines have a limited understanding of the multilingual student population and often no training in working with this group of students (Haan & Gallagher, 2022). In fact, many content instructors in higher education do not see themselves as language teachers (Gallagher & Haan, 2018), nor do they acknowledge the crucial role that language plays in learning (Halliday, 1993).…”

“…As a result, TESOL scholars have called on higher education institutions to provide ongoing support for faculty across the disciplines who work with multilingual students (see, e.g., Schneider, 2018; Tardy & Whittig, 2017). Haan and Gallagher (2022) argue that linguistically responsive instruction (LRI) provides both a theoretical and practical basis for helping higher education faculty develop knowledge and skills to support multilingual students. Drawing on LRI as a foundation, this article provides an online course model that TESOL professionals in higher education institutions might adopt to create professional development opportunities for faculty at their own institutions.…”