Exploring Change in Preservice Teacher Beliefs About Language, Language Acquisition, Culture, and Instruction for English Language Learners

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  In Poster Session: Transformative Social Justice Practices in Diverse Contexts

Abstract

This paper investigates the effectiveness of a state-mandated course, designed to prepare content-area teachers to support English Language Learners (ELLs), in constructing positive beliefs about language development, linguistic and cultural diversity, cultural affects on academic achievement, and differentiation of instructional methods. Questionnaire data were collected from 62 pre-service teachers and analyzed using a series of repeated measure t-tests in addition to a qualitative analysis of interview data and course assignments. Results suggest that there is a positive change in pre-service teachers according to five different aspects of the course including (1) language variation, (2) language acquisition, (3) cultural diversity, (4) cultural affects on communication, learning styles, and academic achievement, and (5) instructional practices.

Authors

• Laura J. Mahalingappa, Duquesne University

• Davi Schirmer Reis, Duquesne University