Emergent Academic Language: Preservice Teacher Knowledge to Action

• In Event: 32.082 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 32.082-17 - Writing, Bookmaking, and Academic Language in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

This 12-month case study examined 33 pre-service early childhood teachers’ academic language knowledge as they prepared for careers in urban early childhood classrooms (birth to 2nd grade) through the following two research questions: (1) How do pre-service teachers define academic language in early childhood? (2) How do pre-service teachers develop lessons that target young children’s academic language acquisition? This study’s findings contribute to changing how teacher education programs support teacher knowledge of academic language in early childhood by identifying several areas where pre-service teachers struggle to understand what emergent academic language is, what it entails, and how to teach it.

Author

• Sara C. Michael-Luna, Queens College - CUNY