Date of Award

5-3-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Education

Program

Education with Emphasis in English as a Second Language

Capstone Instructor

Kelly Sadlovsky

Second Reader

Meagan Reissy

Keywords

preservice mainstream teachers, teacher educator programs, culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogy, critical language awareness, multilingual learners

Abstract

This paper investigated research-based curricular components for increasing the preparedness of preservice mainstream teachers (PSMTs) to teach multilingual learners (MLs). An increase in MLs in classrooms across the United States and changes in models for delivering English language development services have resulted in the growing need for general education teachers to be proficient in meeting the unique language needs of MLs while also delivering content-area instruction. PSMTs have been historically unprepared to adequately teach MLs within general education or content-area classes (Christison, 2023; Deng & Hayden, 2021; Lavery et al., 2019; Mahalingappa et al., 2018; Prasad & Heidt, 2023). To better understand effective practices for preparing PSMTs to teach MLs, 15 peer-reviewed qualitative, quantitative, quasi-experimental, and mixed-method studies related to teacher educator programs, PSMTs understanding of the English language and pedagogical skills for teaching English language development, as well as the development of teacher professional identities and dispositions were analyzed. Overall, the research indicated that including the following curricular components into teacher education programs (TEPs) would build self-efficacy and professional teacher identities necessary for PSMTs to be effective teachers of MLs: embedding systematic and explicit instruction of second language acquisition and language development throughout content coursework, providing opportunities for practical application of critical language awareness that is rooted in culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogy, and offering many opportunities for PSMTs to reflect on personal cultural identity.

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