“That’s Not the Way Language Works”: Middle School Bilingual Teachers’ Language Ideologies in Practice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Language, Ideology, and Identity in Bi-/Multilingual Education (Table 4)

Abstract

This mixed methods study explores middle school bilingual teachers’ (MSBTs') beliefs about, and implementation of, culturally and linguistically relevant (CLR) teaching upon completion of a Spanish-language online professional development (OPD). The research questions are: (1) did shifts occur in participants’ language ideologies? and, (2) did the OPD’s resources support implementation of CLR and/or translanguaging practices? If so, how? Surveys and interviews were conducted. Post-OPD findings include: (1) positive shifts in MSBTs’ beliefs and confidence in implementing CLR instruction; (2) the MSBTs’ new knowledge and tools supported their implementation of translanguaging and CLR practices and their advocacy for multilingual students. Implications include the need for MSBTs to have access to OPD that explicitly connects their ideologies and classroom practices.

Authors

• Allison Briceno, San José State University

• Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, University of California - Davis

• Sara Rutherford-Quach, SRI Education

• Marisa Ruiz, University of California - Davis

• Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Santa Clara University