Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

A Look At Diversity Through The Lens Of Universal Design For Learning And Differentiated Instruction To Better Educate Learners, Mokysha Benford

The Journal of the Research Association of Minority Professors

In addition to the COrona VIrus Disease (COVID) gap, the teacher shortage, and increasing accountability, schools and classrooms continue to grow more and more diverse. This diversity presents its own set of challenges as teachers are expected to meet the needs of all learners. In addition to linguistic, religious, gender, sexual preference, race, socioeconomic status, and family structure diversity, students bring their varied culture and prior experiences to the classroom, and this impacts learning. This article presents a critical review of literature that examines Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction to address the instructional challenges diversity can create. It …

Implicit Gender Bias In The Classroom: Memories From K-12 Education, Melissa J. Marks, Michelle L. Amodei

Journal of Research Initiatives

Implicit biases affect everyone in society, including within the K-12 education system. This study investigated what memories of implicit gender bias preservice teachers (PSTs) recalled from their K-12 education. These memories may be connected to the PSTs’ embedded implicit biases and indicate the long-term impact of teachers’ biases on students. A total of 141 undergraduate PSTs from two universities were surveyed regarding gender expectations and recognition of LGBTQ+ people. Results indicated an inconsistency between espoused beliefs and practices within the classrooms. Because schools often reflect society’s norms and perpetuate them through implicit bias, understanding what biases are currently accepted and …

Internship Experiences Of Pre-Service Teachers: A Case Study Of Efl Korean Students In The Philippines, Gina B. Ugalingan, Aileen Bautista, Rochelle Irene Lucas

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

Various studies on the different experiences of pre-service teachers who are non-native speakers of English emerged to strengthen the teaching curriculum and empower them to be equipped as they take the role of classroom teachers. Some foreign students even study abroad to strengthen their proficiency in the English language; more so, other teacher education programs offer internships abroad. Studies support that teaching internship experiences impact shaping novice teachers’ identity (Borg, 2003; Kim & Cho, 2014; Ulla, 2016). This case study describes the teaching experiences of eight Korean pre-service teachers during their internship. The participants were students under the program of …

Linguistically Inclusive Tesol Course Design And Its Effect On Pre-Service Teacher Education, Dylan Thibaut, Irina Mclaughlin

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Lack of linguistic awareness prevents teachers from catering to English learners. This study proposed a new linguistically inclusive course and compared pre-service teacher knowledge of the linguistic features of five frequently spoken languages in the course versus standard courses. Odds of a correct answer on linguistic questions increased significantly in 28% of the areas tested. The inclusive course showed increased linguistic awareness compared to standard courses.

Changing Worlds, Changing Classrooms: Satellite Children And Their Teachers In The Transnational Era, Ming-Hsuan Wu, Sonna L. Opstad

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

The challenges for immigrants in the US and Canada include the difficulties of making a living while raising their children. Due to the high cost of living and childcare in cities, along with the realities of low paying jobs and long working hours among many working-class immigrants, growing numbers of families send their infant children to their countries of origin to be raised by relatives for a few years. When the children reach school age, they are returned to their parents in the US. Prior research has focused on immigrant parents’ decision-making rationale and their reports of adjustments that children …

Critical Awareness For Literacy Teachers And Educators In Troubling Times, Patriann Smith, S. Joel Warrican

Literacy Practice and Research

The field of literacy remains assailed by a persisting discrepancy between an increasing body of literacy research that honors the diversity in students’ practices juxtaposed against a persistent system of schooling and high-stakes assessment that has not been designed to draw from underrepresented students’ literate assets. This discrepancy has created a situation where teachers often receive well-intentioned instruction from literacy educators about how to address diverse literacy needs, but then, struggle to enact this instruction in the high-stakes testing environment of classrooms and schools where they have little autonomy. We argue in this essay that critical multilingual, critical multicultural and …

Teacher Educators Learning With Prospective Teachers: Finding Relevant Mathematics In Our (Their) Lives, Lindsay M. Keazer, Eryn M. Maher

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

Two mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) discuss the mathematical contexts generated by prospective teachers (PTs) when pushed to look for relevant mathematics in their lives and communities. Through collaborative teacher action research focused on iterations of collecting, categorizing, and discussing PTs’ mathematical contexts, and posing selected examples for PTs’ own examination, layers of learning occurred for both PTs and MTEs. PTs began to craft more personalized, story-like contexts, seemingly noticing more mathematics in their lives. MTEs were unexpectedly pushed to clarify their thinking about what it means to develop contexts that are authentic and relevant, and to contemplate how their actions …

Teachers’ Experiences Of Educating Eal Students In Mainstream Primary And Secondary Classrooms, Jessica Premier

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Many schools in Victoria, Australia, are multicultural, with students coming from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. Content area teachers often educate EAL students in their classrooms, even though they may not have specialised EAL teaching qualifications. This paper presents the experiences of primary and secondary teachers working in multicultural schools in Victoria. It explores the way in which teachers meet the needs of EAL students in their classrooms, and the support that is available to assist them to do so. This paper reports that teaching practice, school leadership, professional learning, and identity, influence the way in which teachers educate …

The Exclusive White World Of Preservice Teachers’ Book Selection For The Classroom: Influences And Implications For Practice, Helen Adam, Anne-Maree Hays, Yvonne Urquhart

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on a study of the children’s book preferences of 82 Preservice teachers (PSTs) at one Western Australian University. The study found PSTs preferred older books published during their own childhood or earlier. Further, representation of people of colour was limited to only 8 of 177 titles listed by PSTs. Key influences on their preferences were their personal favourite books and those used by mentor teachers during practicum experience. The outcomes of this study have implications for curriculum development and implementation of Initial Teacher Education courses, and in turn, for equitable outcomes of the future students of PSTs.

Technology Of Story: Documenting Culturally Sustaining Anti-Racist Teaching, Frances Vitali

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Our education system, an extension of our society, has created a monster of historical sociocultural and linguistic inequities, traumas, structural racism, and oppressions. Culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy honor students’ funds of knowledge as their authentic power and voice. The oral family stories became vehicles to navigate and facilitate educational partnerships in becoming more culturally responsive for these teacher candidates. Oral stories, as documents, became the content within the context of the writing workshop process. These documented stories became the technological bridge that supported students’ home experiences with academic language and content to meet curricular goals.

During the writing process, …

If I Knew Then What I Do Now: Fostering Pre-Service Teachers’ Capacity To Promote Expansive And Critical Conversations With Children’S Literature, Stephen Adam Crawley

Occasional Paper Series

In this article, I reflect on my practices as a teacher educator and respond to the following questions: How do I foster the capacity of pre-service teachers to use children’s literature to promote expansive and critical conversations in the classroom? How do pre-service teachers report their stances and sense of preparedness when reflecting on the course? To address these questions, I share two strategies I employed in my undergraduate course for elementary education majors: 1) emphasizing children's literature as windows and mirrors and 2) considering stakeholder responses. For each strategy, I include preservice teachers’ (PTs’) statements that reflect how the …

Don’T Be Fooled, Trauma Is A Systemic Problem: Trauma As A Case Of Weaponized Educational Innovation, Debi Khasnabis, Simona Goldin

Occasional Paper Series

We examine the dangers and affordances of trauma-informed practice, focusing specifically on how this approach can be misused to cause harm. Further, we elaborate how teacher educators can support teachers in developing systemically trauma-informed teaching practice. We analyze and share detailed educational designs showing how counter story can support educators to recognize and contend with racist interpretations of trauma-informed practice. These lenses are frequently used to injure, blame and pathologize, in particular, poor children and families of color.

Lessons From The Field: A Collection Of Findings From Teacher Candidate Field Experiences, Tony Durr

Empowering Research for Educators

No abstract provided.

Three Ways To Help Esl Content Linger Beyond The “El Course” In Teacher Preparation Programs, Melanie Gonzalez

Journal of English Learner Education

Like many other states, our teacher preparation program arrived at this compartmentalized, “single-experience” ESL-focused course model as a result of local, state, and federal policies in the United States that have increasingly placed ELs into mainstream classrooms rather than into language and literacy development courses (de Jong, 2014). TESOL faculty might have questioned: how can everything related to effective ESL teaching be covered in one semester? The fact of the matter is that the onus on this work largely rests upon teacher candidates’ shoulders after they depart the ESL-focused course. What follows are three practices that largely have arisen …

Critical Intersections Through Poetry In A Tesol & World Language Graduate Education Program, Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Sharon M. Nuruddin, Kuo Zhang, Yixuan Wang, Amanda Brady Deaton, Xinyi Meng, Ashley Brown-Lemley, Ming Sun

Intersections: Critical Issues in Education

In this studio submission, Language Education students who took one or more poetry writing courses along with their instructor share one poem draft and critical reflection, noting the political climate of the work co-produced and inquiry regarding the impact of producing creative work as reflexive, critical teacher education scholarship. Together they draw a context and implications for creative and critical teacher education through shared poetry writing.

White Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions And Their Development Of Culturally Relevant Literacy Practices, Lakia M. Scott, Elena Venegas

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Existent literature purports that providing White teacher candidates with increased exposure to urban schools in order to create culturally competent educators has failed. These findings reflect the notion that teacher ideologies and overall perspectives about working with diverse student groups must be harnessed in a genuine ethic of care and intentionality for students of color. However, few studies have taken the approach of examining the development of culturally relevant pedagogy through context-specific field experiences using content-specific courses. This study examines the perspectives of twenty-five White pre-service teachers from a predominately White, private university regarding their initial perceptions and gained conceptual …

Multicultural Teacher Education Matters, Reginald Todd, Jacqueline Smith

The Journal of the Research Association of Minority Professors

This article focuses on the impact the demographic change in the student population in current K-12 classrooms has had on teacher education programs as it pertains to the preparation of culturally responsive preservice teachers. There exists an extensive body of literature that posits that the increase of cultural diversity in our current classrooms should be understood as a call for new teaching approaches that promote multicultural awareness among teacher educators to develop preservice teachers who exhibit culturally responsive teaching practices, behaviors, and attitudes. This comprehensive review of literature explored the current research on multicultural teacher education programs, and more specifically …

Problem-Based Teacher-Mentor Education: Fostering Literacy Acquisition In Multicultural Classrooms, Pamela Hartman, Corinne Renguette, Mary Theresa Seig

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

We designed a professional development (PD) teacher-mentor program that used problem-based learning (PBL) to accomplish two goals. First, teachers explored how PBL could be used effectively in their classrooms to change the way they think about teaching to include literacy development in content areas. Second, PBL was the basis for PD training to help them improve their own knowledge of PBL, become mentors to other teachers, and implement PBL in their schools across content areas.

Educators in the United States are challenged to teach linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) students with differing literacy levels. The demographics of U.S. classrooms require …

Preservice Teachers' Understandings Related To Language In The Mathematics Classroom, Amanda T. Sugimoto

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Mathematics reforms are highlighting the important role that language plays in mathematics education. However, there remains a common misconception that mathematics is somehow language-free. This qualitative study explored 67 elementary preservice teachers’ developing understandings about the role of language in the mathematics classroom based on their practicum experiences. Iterative, open-coding techniques were used to analyze mentor teacher advice and preservice teachers’ observations of mentor teachers teaching a mathematics lesson. The tool helped focus preservice teachers’ attention on language in the mathematics classrooms. Implications are identified for mentor and preservice teachers’ knowledge and skill development toward linguistically responsive teaching practices.

Developing Teacher Competencies For Problem-Based Learning Pedagogy And For Supporting Learning In Language-Minority Students, Peter Rillero, Mari Koerner, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, Joi Merritt, Wendy J. Farr

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Teachers need to be able to design and implement problem-based learning (PBL) experiences to help students master the content and the processes in new mathematics and science education standards. Due to the changed population of learners within schools, it is also critically important that teachers in the elementary grades have the abilities to work effectively with English language learners (ELL). This article discusses the implementation of a major initiative by our teachers college to achieve both of these goals through Problem-Based Enhanced Language Learning (PBELL), which combines PBL, enhanced opportunities for language, and ELL methods. The implementation began with a …

Why “Correcting” African American Language Speakers Is Counterproductive, Alice Lee

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In this article, I address the topic of AAL usage in the classroom, particularly the line of thinking that assumes “correcting” the language is what will “set students up for success” in the future. By providing some abbreviated information on how children acquire language, I explain how AAL “correction” is actually counterproductive for student “success”—in both language acquisition and learning. Additionally, I will offer practical suggestions for how AAL can be incorporated in curriculum and instruction.

Providing Equal Opportunity To Learn Science For English Language Learners: The Role Of Simulated Language Learner Experiences In Teacher Preparation, Angela W. Webb, Estanislado S. Barrera Iv

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing student population in our nation’s public school systems; yet, preservice and inservice teachers are commonly underprepared to teach science effectively to this group of students. Though obviously inequitable, providing ELLs with poor or subpar science instruction denies them their civil right to equal opportunity to learn science. In this paper, we discuss simulation as a promising way to prepare preservice elementary teachers to plan and deliver quality science instruction and robust opportunities to learn to ELLs.

Any Time, Any Place, Flexible Pace: Technology-Enhanced Language Learning In A Teacher Education Programme, Jocelyn M. Howard, Adèle Scott

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Ongoing developments in e-learning, improved internet accessibility and increased digital citizenry provide exciting opportunities to integrate effective classroom pedagogies with online educational technologies, creating mixed-mode courses to enhance student engagement and facilitate greater autonomous learning. This research examines pre-service teacher education students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of experiential and digitally-mediated tools which take them beyond the constraints of traditional lecture-type delivery. Quantitative and qualitative results from distance and face-to-face cohorts show the value the students ascribe to tools employed in a modified language course. These are discussed in relation to reported changes in students’ proficiency in the target language and …

Navigating The Challenges Of Becoming A Culturally Responsive Teacher: Supportive Networking May Be The Key, Nina L. Nilsson Ph.D., Ailing Kong Ph.D., Shantel Hubert

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research shows graduates of teacher education programs do not always transfer, or apply, the best practices they learn to instructional practice due to factors related to course features, the student, and workplace environment (e.g., Brown & Bentley, 2004; de Jong et al., 2010). This study examined the challenges a secondary-level English teacher in the United States encountered when she attempted to implement culturally responsive teaching practices she learned from a graduate course to her class with ELLs. Findings indicate she faced strategy- and language-related challenges due to student culture and school environment factors (“external challenges”), as well as her own …

Navigating Discourses Of Cultural Literacy In Teacher Education, Kelsey Halbert, Philemon Chigeza

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Pre-service teachers’ understandings, skills and dispositions as global, culturally literate citizens and agents of change have arguably never been more important. Professional standards, systemic policies and frameworks and a broad range of scholarly perspectives on culture position pre-service teachers to take up cultural education in sometimes conflicting ways. It is these orientations to culture within a teacher education program and how they sit alongside potentially incongruent policies, practices and worldviews that are the focus of this paper. The practitioner research draws on cultural identity theories, policies and student experiences in the teaching and learning of an undergraduate education subject entitled …

Engaging In Deep Cultural Learning Through The Intersection Of Multiple Contexts, Maria Northcote, Peter Kilgour, Daniel Reynaud, Phil Fitzsimmons

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The type of learning that takes place in teacher education courses typically results in pre-service teachers developing a mixture of knowledge, skills and values that enable them to become effective teachers in schools in the future. During their journey to become qualified teachers, pre-service teachers typically engage in coursework and experiential-based learning.

By engaging in coursework experiences, an overseas practicum and an overseas study tour, students experienced a range of reflection-promoting activities and contexts during which they broadened and deepened their understanding of cultures other than their own.

Using a cross-case analysis approach, the data gathered in these three cases …

Enhancing Multicultural Education Through Higher Education Initiatives, Porter L. Troutman Jr.

Trotter Review

This paper describes a comprehensive initiative intended to increase multicultural education and the amount of ethnic diversity among college of education faculty and undergraduate teacher education students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The paper details six components of the on-going initiative: 1) staff development: to enhance the sensitivity of college of education faculty regarding cultural issues, 2) a minority mentoring program: to provide a stronger support system for under-represented populations enrolled in the teacher education program, 3) the multicultural education project (MCE): a collaborative effort with the public school district in multicultural education, 4) the College of …

Preparing White Undergraduate Pre-Service Teachers To Teach African-American Students: What Does It Take?, Frances Y. Lowden

Trotter Review

A strong appreciation and knowledge of diverse cultures is vital in delivering what the Association for Childhood Education International position paper identifies as the curricular areas that should be addressed in a preparation program for teachers of young children. Thus, undergraduates must develop: 1) an acquaintance with great music, art and literature, 2) a knowledge of health, safety and nutrition, 3) an understanding of the physical and biological aspects of the world and the universe 4) a knowledge of mathematical concepts 5) an ability to read with comprehension, then to analyze, interpret, and judge a wide range of written material, …

Are Today's Teachers Being Prepared For Diversity? An Analysis Of School Catalogues, James Jennings, Illene Carver

Trotter Review

A recent content analysis study shows that while leading educators in Massachusetts stress the importance of preparing teachers for an increasingly diverse world, most teacher preparation schools virtually ignore the issue of racial and ethnic diversity in catalogues recruiting new students. This not only discourages people from diverse backgrounds from becoming teachers, but could also create a lack of understanding in the classroom of the black, Latino, and Asian students being taught.

A summary of A Content Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Themes in Catalogues Distributed by Teacher Preparation Schools in Massachusetts, 1989 and 1990, a report issued by …

Attitudes Towards Migrants And Needs In Teacher Training : Some Research Findings, R. W. Sealey

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The area of immigrant education has become a major source of interest, concern, comment, and research in recent years. This interest has its origins in the concern felt and views expressed at various conferences that many pupils in our schools are in need of an educational approach which will take cognisance of their linguistic and cultural differences.