Preparing to Teach Language and Content: Four Teacher Candidates' Experiences

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Trends in Second Language and Content Learning in Multilingual Settings

Abstract

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers are increasingly expected to teach sheltered content courses in an effort to meet the needs of English learners, but teacher education has not devoted enough attention on preparing ESOL teachers to do this. Our study focuses on the experiences of four ESOL teacher candidates (TCs) during their Master’s program. We examined how well-prepared the TCs felt to teach sheltered content courses, and what experiences best prepared them to meet this challenge. The TCs felt that their university coursework did not prepare them to teach in the content areas. What helped the TCs feel more confident about teaching content was their undergraduate education coupled with hands-on experiences during the field placement.

Authors

• Johanna M. Tigert, University of Maryland - College Park

• Megan Madigan Peercy, University of Maryland - College Park