Community Engagement to Multilingual Student Advocacy: Language Teacher Candidates Becoming Language Teachers and Student Advocates

• In Event: Preparing Teachers for Multilingual Learners: Equity-Oriented Practices Across Educational Settings

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how language teacher candidates process the experience of teaching in a community-based workplace English program for refugee and immigrant adults and how it connects to their experiences observing, co-planning, and co-teaching in their K-12 placements. By employing a “community-as-curriculum” (Sharkey et al., 2016) lens, this study sheds light on how language teacher candidates can learn to leverage community-based teaching experiences into (1) their language teacher identities, (2) pedagogical stances and practices, and (3) advocacy actions on behalf of multilingual students, families, and broader communities. Further, this study seeks to illuminate the impact of mutual support for both culturally and linguistically diverse members of the community and for teacher candidates.

Authors

• Nicole King, University of Rhode Island

• Hairong Shang-Butler, University of Rochester