Mainstream Bilingual Teachers and the Impact of Prior Linguistic and Cultural Experiences in Teaching English Language Learners

• In Event: 75.023 - Focusing on the Cultural Assets of Students: Reimagining Teacher Work With English Language Learners

Abstract

The current study explores the impact of prior linguistic and cultural experiences of bilingual teachers and their own meaning-making processes as mainstream teachers teaching at the U.S. public schools. Qualitative study methods were implemented in this study to answer research questions. The research questions include: (1) What are MBT teachers’ experiences in their teacher preparation program, including peer relations, course work, and field experiences? (2) What are practicing MBT teachers’ experiences teaching in K-12 public schools? (3) What role, if any, do MBT teachers’ own linguistic and cultural experiences play when teaching, in particular ELLs? The data were collected from three Spanish/English bilingual elementary classroom teachers from Hispanic background and analyzed by using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Authors

• Ahyea Jo, Jacksonville University

• Ester J. de Jong, University of Florida

• Masashi Otani, University of Florida

• YONG-JIK LEE, University of Florida