Teacher Preparation for Dual-Language Education

• In Event: 29.055 - Dual-Language Education and the Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity

Abstract

Despite rapid growth in popularity of dual language education and the resultant proliferation of dual language programs across the country today, there is no systematized approach to preparing teachers to serve in dual language settings. A small handful of states have adopted educational policy that requires the identification of bilingual teacher competencies, establishment of bilingual teacher preparation standards, and defined pathways to bilingual teacher certification that include assessment of content, pedagogy, and skills in bilingualism and biliteracy. Still, the vast majority of states provide guidelines solely for the preparation and certification of teachers serving in English-only classrooms. Moreover, even in states that offer bilingual teacher preparation programs, the focus is on development of bilingual rather than dual language competencies.
This lack of clear programmatic guidelines for provision of effective dual language teacher preparation leaves leaders in higher education working in an ad hoc and uncoordinated fashion to meet increased market demands for teachers prepared to teach in dual language settings. This challenge is further exacerbated by a long-standing national bilingual teacher shortage that makes it increasingly difficult to appropriately staff dual language schools (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Kennedy, 2013).
This paper aims to draw attention to the important, yet largely ignored issue of dual language teacher preparation. The goal is to present a brief yet comprehensive overview of the current landscape in this scantily researched field. Research identifying features of effective dual language instruction and key competencies and skills required of an effective bilingual teacher will be reviewed in order to begin to define a dual language teacher specialized skill set that points toward a dual language teacher preparation curriculum that specifically targets development of these skills.
Following the literature review, 6 university program descriptions will be presented in order to illustrate how leaders in higher education across the country today are working to develop dual language teacher preparation programs in response to state initiatives and increased regional market demand. The featured programs range from mature to those still under development. They represent a cross-section of the country, including programs from the West Coast (California, Oregon), the Southwest (Texas), the Midwest (Minnesota), and the East Coast (North Carolina). They were selected to represent an array of geographic, demographic, social, and political contexts. Their collective efforts to prepare dual language educators for a growing number of classrooms, within social, legislative, and political contexts that are not necessarily devised with multilingual and multicultural education identified as a priority, serve to paint an instructive picture for program leaders across the country to relate to and learn from.
The paper closes with a summary of common themes that emerged across the six featured programs. It concludes with recommendations for education policy makers and university program leaders to consider as the basis for future investigation and research. As such, this paper aims to fill the gap in current research by providing a brief yet comprehensive snapshot of the current state of affairs in dual language educator preparation in the United States.

Author

• Barbara Kennedy, Center for Applied Linguistics