Graduate-Level Courses for Developing Secondary Content Teachers' Knowledge and Pedagogical Practices for Academic Language Instruction

• In Event: Academic Literacies for K–12 Multilingual Learners: Critical Perspectives in Teacher Education and Professional Learning

Abstract

This paper uses qualitative analyses to describe how secondary teachers’ understanding of AL evolved after one year of enrollment in two graduate-level master’s courses. The participating secondary teachers (n=96) taught STEM, social studies, or English content and were part of a university/district grant-funded project to improve teacher quality of “high-needs” students. One of the project’s five focal areas for teacher learning included AL. The authors modified course objectives for two master’s-level courses with the aim of developing teachers’ AL knowledge and linguistic pedagogy for the state’s content literacy standards (e.g., Common Core) (Authors, in preparation). Many of the course assignments were “applied” in participating teachers’ focal class periods at their schools. As part of an Applied Graduate Education (AGE) model (Blackwell & Diez, 1998; Diez & Blackwell, 2001; Galluzzo, 1999), teachers were required to implement the AL content and practices they were learning in their graduate courses within their focal class periods. There were three cohorts of teachers enrolling over the course of one academic year, thus the courses were iteratively developed with changes taking place for each cohort based on what was learned from the previous cohort’s experience. The research questions addressed in this presentation include: How did secondary teachers’ understanding of academic language change as a result of taking graduate-level method and reading courses that emphasized teaching content through language? and What lessons have been learned from the teachers’ experiences concerning AL content and pedagogy for future course iterations?
Data sources for grounded theory analyses (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) included teacher reflections, course assignments and evaluations, project evaluation surveys, and focus group interviews. Findings indicate that the teachers expanded their knowledge of AL from word-level to sentence- and discourse-level understandings. The teachers in the second and third cohorts reported more satisfaction and confidence in their AL knowledge and classroom implementation as the courses changed to better meet teachers’ learning needs. Overall, participating teachers agreed that AL beyond technical vocabulary or word-level teaching is an important factor in teaching and learning content, but not all implemented AL instruction on a regular basis in their classrooms due to time limitations for expected content coverage and other constraints that pushed-in on teachers’ autonomy to make instructional decisions. Additionally, while diverse populations were a focus of the M.S. Ed. program’s social justice theme, some teachers reported they were unsure how to implement AL instruction with recently arrived emergent bilingual immigrants in their focal classrooms. Primary implications for future course iterations include the need to provide alternative implementation strategies for teachers experiencing constrained professionalism and time limitations from mandated pacing guides. Also, more emphasis on multi-modal text options in order for EBs to participate during class discussions and display/express their content knowledge were needed. A fourth iteration of future course content/assignments conclude the presentation.

Authors

• Mary A. Avalos, University of Miami

• Alissa Anne Blair, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville