31.049 - The South Is Different: Preparing Teachers to Work With English Learners in the Southeastern United States

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Research on preparing teachers to work with English learners has neglected to address how regional histories of and attitudes towards diversity, immigration, and bilingual education may affect professional development. In this symposium we argue that the Southeastern U.S. possesses a unique constellation of historical, socioeconomic, political, and cultural characteristics that must be taken into account when teaching educators to work with English learners. Presenters from five Southern states (North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas) illustrate how “Southern exceptionalism” affects the form and efficacy of teacher professional development in teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) and bilingual education. The symposium advances theory and research on teacher education and teacher efficacy by considering contextually sensitive approaches to professional development.

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Division K - Section 1: Teaching and Teacher Education in the Content Areas

Chair

• Linda Harklau, University of Georgia

Papers

• ESOL Professional Development in Georgia: Challenges and Opportunities in the New Latino Diaspora - Linda Harklau, University of Georgia

• It's Different in Arkansas - Janet Penner-Williams, University of Arkansas; Diana Gonzales Worthen, University of Arkansas

• If It's Different in the South, It's Really Different in Florida - Joyce Watson Nutta, University of Central Florida

• Shifting Instructional Ideologies in Bilingual and ESL Teacher Preparation: Language, Culture, and Content Deep in the Heart of Texas - Rebecca M. Callahan, The University of Texas - Austin

Discussant

• Edmund T. Hamann, University of Nebraska - Lincoln