Leveraging Culture and Literacy in Secondary STEM: Promoting Biliteracy and Shaping Bilingual Teacher Identities

• In Event: Empowering Bilingual Education: Cultivating Teacher Identity and Linguistic Diversity

Abstract

This empirically grounded study presents findings from an ongoing NPD project involving in-service secondary STEM teachers seeking a bilingual credential and receiving support with integrating biliteracy practices in STEM. This mixed-methods study addresses two research questions: 1) How are participants’ instructional practices, focused on integrating biliteracy in STEM content areas, impacted by participation in the project? 2) What do critical reflections about the role of leveraging Latinx culture and biliteracy in STEM education reveal about their bilingual teacher identities? Our findings reveal growth in STEM teachers’ efficacy in implementing biliteracy practices and sense of belonging with their cohort criticality of language and race in STEM provided a context to (re)define their roles as educators and advocates of multilingual learners.

Authors

• Eduardo Mosqueda, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Jorge L. Solis, University of Texas - San Antonio

• Marco A. Bravo, Santa Clara University

• Talia A. Howard Hanna, University of Texas - San Antonio