Access and Affirmation: Instructional Advocacy for Multilingual Students

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Language for All: Fostering Inclusive and Equitable Classrooms (Table 3)

Abstract

Successful instructional advocacy is the engagement in, and construction of, educational possibilities. While advocacy by educators of multilingual students (MLs) is a widely accepted role (Bradley-Levine, 2018; Picower, 2012), few studies of teacher advocacy have analyzed teacher training and how teachers put advocacy into practice in contemporary linguistically-diverse classroom contexts (de Oliviera & Athanases, 2007). Using a dialogic lens, this multiple case study examines the discussions of instructional advocacy by four teachers in a certification program and their implementation of instructional advocacy in their classrooms. This study contributes to the literature on language teacher education outcomes and provides implications for training teachers of MLs to become advocates who provide equitable access and affirmation for linguistically diverse students.

Authors

• Sora Suh, Fairleigh Dickinson University

• Catherine Michener, Rowan University