We're Not in Kansas Anymore ...: The Stories and Journeys of Preservice Bilingual Teachers

• In Event: 65.052 - Social Justice for Learning: English Language Learners and Bilingual Students

Abstract

This paper documents the literacy journeys of 70 bilingual (Spanish/English) pre-service teachers enrolled in a bilingual teacher credential program in a Southern California border town. Situated within sociocultural (Vygotsky, 1986) and social constructivist perspectives of learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991), this paper draws on teacher candidates’ personal narratives from a biliteracy autobiography course project. Findings contribute to the sparse research on teacher diversity by documenting patterns in the teacher candidates’ biliteracy experiences and their impact on candidates’ educational beliefs, values and attitudes. Results reveal patterns in home and school-based literacy experiences according to native language, country of origin, age of immigration, and country of schooling. This session integrates video clips and photographic segments of candidates’ autobiographies to exemplify data trends.

Author

• Elsa M. Billings, Understanding Language, Stanford University