Moving Beyond Content to Language: A Secondary Teacher Education Program Focused on Multilingual Learners

• In Event: Looking Inside Instruction Across Grade Levels for Emergent Bilingual Students

Abstract

This study examines the impact of an 18-month teacher development program that combines traditional coursework, in-school coaching, and professional learning for in-service secondary teachers to support Multilingual Learners. The mixed methods research reveals that content teachers, who previously viewed subject mastery as their main instructional objective, reported being better prepared to use a variety of practices that allow students to develop language and literacy skills while simultaneously accessing content. Data collected over the course of one academic year reflect increased use of six high-leverage instructional practices. The lessons learned from this project can inform approaches to prepare high school teachers to serve students’ language and literacy needs through effective content instruction that also attends to cultural and linguistic factors.

Authors

• Nancy Stern, City College of New York

• Moira Wilkinson, City College of New York

• Andrea Velikov, New Visions for Public Schools