Lessons Learned: Reframing Teachers’ Perceptions of Bilingual Students

• In Event: Improving the Education of Multilingual Learners and Their Teachers Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Online Professional Development

Abstract

Objectives:
The purpose of this study is to explore both the understandings and the misconceptions about bilingual learners and bilingualism that content area teachers reported while engaging in an online learning module on Second Language Acquisition.

Theoretical framework:
We frame the analysis of the data with perceptions and beliefs about the bilingualism of children of immigrants. At the positive end of a continuum lies Valdés’ (2003) expansive definition of giftedness to include bilingualism. This view of bilingualism is additive and has previously been reserved for the elite bilingualism achieved by English speakers. At the opposite end is the perception of bilingualism with a deficit view that imposes assimilationist expectations and results in subtractive bilingualism (Garza & Crawford, 2005).

Methods and data sources:
Two groups of content area teachers, 7 teachers in all, participated in a 6-week online learning module which targeted basic concepts of Second Language Acquisition as applied to the K-12 classroom. We conducted a qualitative analysis of the feedback and module artifacts.
In our analysis we sought answers to 3 sets of related questions:
• What benefits did the teachers derive from participating in the module? According to the teachers, to what extent might these benefits translate into enhanced teaching and learning for bilingual students?
• What misconceptions or misunderstandings about second language acquisition emerged from the data? To what extent did these misconceptions reflect a deficit view of bilinguals and bilingualism?
• What positive beliefs and understandings about second language acquisition emerged from the data? To what extent did the data show positive and additive views of bilinguals and bilingualism?
Results:
Among the benefits derived from participating in the module teachers reported an overall better appreciation of their bilingual students and awareness of the linguistic and cognitive role of bilingualism in learning,

The misconceptions teachers had of bilingual learners included linguistic and cognitive deficit explanations of their (in)abilities to learn. Some teachers cited bilingual students’ lack of parental support for their education and one teacher used her elite bilingual experience learning a foreign language to suggest that English immersion might be a solution.

The results indicate that professional development for content area teachers around teaching bilingual learners must include awareness about the linguistic and cognitive strengths of bilinguals.

Scholarly significance:
Online staff development is a growing phenomenon that holds great promise in helping content area teachers address the needs of their bilingual students. The analysis of participants’ responses and products indicates a growing awareness of these needs. However, misconceptions we uncovered point to the need to build teachers’ understandings of the nature and potential of bilingual students. Without this education, content teachers rely on stereotypes (e.g., immigrant parents don’t care about their children’s education (Olivas, 2011) and clichés (e.g., English immersion is a practical solution (Harper & de Jong, 2004). Educating educators away from hegemonic beliefs about bilingualism moves them forward toward providing an additive education for bilingual students rather than the subtractive one they have been traditionally offered (Valenzuela, 1999).

Authors

• Sheila M. Shannon, University of Colorado - Denver

• Elizabeth Mahon, University of Colorado

• Nancy Commins, University of Colorado - Denver