Review of Bilingual Educator Preparation Programs in the U.S.: A Decade of Literature

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Centering Multilingual Perspectives in Teacher Education (Table 5)

Abstract

This literature review explores critical components influencing bilingual educator preparation programs (BEPPs), while advocating for a critical pedagogy approach. Previous studies only provide glimpses into this area, prompting us to create a nuanced and coherent picture of the BEPP landscape. By highlighting ways students and teacher candidates (TCs) are taught to analyze their socio-political contexts, this paper argues that pedagogy should go beyond literacy instruction for language acquisition. Language should be a tool of empowerment that promotes understanding and the ability to transform one’s world. By combining the concepts of reading “the word” and writing the world, BEPPs emerge as a potent force for social justice, particularly in creating more equitable spaces for emergent bilinguals (EBs).

Authors

• Rebekah Lea Phelps, Texas Tech University

• Weverton Ataide Pinheiro, Texas Tech University

• Elyssa Cherry Shive, Texas Tech University

• Delia Carrizales, Texas Tech University

• Linnie Greenlees, Texas Tech University

• Fernando Valle, Texas Tech University

• Kristi Ham, Texas Tech University