“The real deal”: Mentoring English as a Second Language pre-service teachers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Mentoring for Teacher Preparation and Practitioner Development

Abstract

This study examines how English as a Second Language (ESL) mentor teachers apply their Funds of Identity to conceptualize their work as mentors of pre-service teachers (PSTs). Drawing on interviews and observational data, findings suggest that mentors view mentoring as a relational, evolving practice, grounded in three key dispositions—patience, listening, and honesty—and sustained by time. Mentors challenge dominant, standardized models of mentoring that prioritize efficiency and fixed sequences, and advocate for more responsive practices grounded in trust and relational depth. This study has implications for more expansive approaches that embrace the “complexity and messiness of learning to teach,” reimagining mentoring not as replication but as a collaborative practice with the potential to support more equitable, multilingual educational futures.

Author

• Maria Guzman Antelo, Rhode Island College