Attending to Emergent Bilingual Learners in Teacher Preparation

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Sesion 4
  In Roundtable Session: Preparing and Sustaining Bilingual Teachers in Antiracist, Socially Just, and Culturally Affirming Pedagogies

Abstract

Latinx students in the PK-12+ pipeline, especially English Learners or emergent bilinguals (EBs), contend with persistent inequities, one of which is access to content teachers who have sufficiently-specialized knowledge to address students’ language needs within culturally responsive frameworks (Rumberger & Gándara, 2004; de Jong, 2013). Within this larger context, this paper analyzes the design of a professional learning intervention focused on teacher candidates’ preparation in language development and assessment across content areas. The intervention occurred within a university-based teacher residency program located in the southwest U.S. Baseline findings point to specific gaps in participants’ applied knowledge of language development with EBs. These findings informed the design of the intervention, which included job-embedded professional learning sessions implemented over the one-year residency.

Authors

• Erika L. Mein, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Sandra A. Butvilofsky, University of Texas at El Paso

• Lidia Herrera-Rocha, The University of Texas - El Paso