Investigating Preservice Science Teachers' Implementation of Reform-Based Instruction for English Learners: edTPA Focus

• In Event: Addressing Students' Language Learning in Math Science

Abstract

Students designated as English learners (ELs) are the fastest growing group of students in K-12 public schools across the United States. In this study, we will examine twenty preservice secondary science teachers’ understanding of academic language, and the types of supports they implemented to scaffold ELs’ academic language use during cognitively demanding tasks. Therefore, our purpose was to contribute evidence-based research to improve science teacher education and help prepare PSTs to teach their discipline in reform-based ways to ELs. In fact, our findings suggest that if PSTs are expected to help their students successfully engage in scientific discourse, teacher education programs will need to provide PSTs with a deeper understanding of how to scaffold the complex linguistic demands of discourse.

Author

• Walter Aminger, University of California - Santa Barbara