Pre- and In-Service Teachers' Language Attitudes Related to Practice Attitudes: A Mixed-Methods Study

• In Event: The Role of Language, Ideology, and Emotion in Teacher Preparation and Professional Learning

Abstract

Teaching English Learners (ELs) effectively includes valuing the importance of ELs’ language(s) and transferring that knowledge to teaching content. In this integrative mixed methods study, we measured the extent to which 195 pre- and in-service teacher’s attitudes towards linguistic diversity predicted their attitudes towards EL content area instruction. We also compared pre- and in-service teachers’ open-ended responses regarding their attitudes towards practice. Findings indicated teacher attitudes towards linguistic diversity was a strong and statistically significant predictor of teachers attitudes towards working with ELs in the content areas, and in-service teachers acknowledged their role in the development of ELs’ learning while pre-service teachers viewed ELs as an added responsibility, despite the groups’ similarity in terms of age and EL coursework.

Authors

• Margarita Huerta, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Manognya Murukutla, Touro University - Nevada

• Xin Zhang, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Tiberio Garza, Florida International University