Investigating Preservice Secondary Science and Mathematics Teachers' Understanding of English Learners

• In Event: 77.036 - Culturally Relevant and Culturally Responsive Approaches to Teaching STEM for Diverse Populations

Abstract

To prepare preservice science and mathematics teachers to effectively teach English Learners (ELs), teacher education programs must help their graduates adopt asset- and principle-based approaches to instruction. Using qualitatively coded interview data from 84 preservice science and mathematics teachers (PSTs) at four universities, we investigated PSTs' understanding of ELs and effective instructional practices for ELs. We found that while PSTs largely expressed asset-based orientations to ELs, they continued to describe both ELs and effective instructional practices largely in terms of language development. Our findings suggest that teacher education programs must more carefully attend to the balance between supporting academic language and supporting rigorous content learning for ELs.

Authors

• Valerie Meier, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Alexis Deidre Spina, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Mandy McLean, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Walter Aminger, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Stacey L. Carpenter

• Julie Bianchini, University of California - Santa Barbara