Prospective Bilingual Latina/o Elementary Teachers' Sense of Readiness to Work With Multilingual Learners in Mainstream

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Preparing Professionals for Multilingual Classroom Realities: Promising Practices for the Present

Abstract

The intent of the present study was to investigate the impact of a semester-long course on English learner (EL) education on prospective Latina/o elementary teachers’ sense of readiness to work with multilingual learners in general education classrooms. The participants of the study were twenty-four bilingual Latina/o prospective teachers at a large research university located in the southwestern United States. Findings suggested that the course on EL education challenged the participant prospective teachers’ preexisting misconceptions and assumptions about teaching bi/multilingual learners and affected their sense of readiness to work with multilingual learners in general education classrooms.

Author

• Refika Turgut, University of South Carolina - Upstate