Professional Development Program Designed to Support Prospective Teachers’ Enactment of Instructional Strategies to Differentiate Instruction for English Learners

Abstract

The increasing number of English learners (ELs) in U.S. public schools calls for teacher preparation programs to adequately prepare prospective teachers to meet the learning needs of ELs in general education classrooms, and to be culturally responsive to this growing population. This longitudinal study responds to the need to prepare prospective teachers to differentiate instruction for ELs in general education classrooms by sharing prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice throughout their participation in a professional development program. This draws attention on the ways in which prospective teachers reflected on the enactment of instructional strategies used in English as-a-second language settings to differentiate instruction for ELs. Finally, this study describes the ways in which working on cases with detailed descriptions of ELs prompted prospective teachers to develop habits of mind to differentiate instruction for ELs on a one-on-one basis, and to consider ELs’ individual characteristics and learning needs.

Introduction

In the past twenty years, there has been a steady growth of English learners (ELs) attending public schools in the United States. Quality Counts (2021) examined the achievement index in reading and mathematics performance between diverse populations and their white peers. In relation to equity, districts that have predominantly students that speak English as first language (L1), scored 91.8 versus districts with high percentage of ELs that scored as low as 50.0. Given that ELs’ educational needs, backgrounds, cultures, and languages vary, this increase in enrollment represents a challenge for general education teachers to address ELs’ learning needs. In fact, teachers generally report feeling ill-prepared to educate ELs, and to integrate language learning and literacy with content-area instruction (Li et al., 2017a; Lucas & Grinberg, 2008; Reeves, 2006). Moreover, many teacher education courses fail to prepare prospective teachers to be sensitive to the cultural and linguistic differences of ELs, and to provide them with instructional strategies used in English as-a-second language (ESL) settings (Durgunoğlu & Hughes, 2010). The U.S. Department of Education (2017) reported that teachers benefit from having pedagogical content knowledge and credentials to teach ELs. This situation has raised awareness of the need for all teachers, not only ESL specialists, to develop the expertise to teach ELs in general education classes. Building on this line of research, this study answers the following research question, how do prospective teachers interact with approximations of practice and representations of practice within a professional development program¹?

Literature review

In 2021, there were 1,020,619 ESL certified teachers serving ELs (ZIPPIA, 2021) in the U.S. These certified teachers teach in programs of language assistance (i.e., ESL, High Intensity Language Training, and bilingual education) which aim to support ELs in attaining the English proficiency required to meet the same academic content and achievement as their native English speaker peers. However, teaching ELs is a shared responsibility with general education teachers. Most general education teachers rely on “just good teaching practices” (de Jong & Harper, 2005, p. 102; e.g., learning information through reading texts, engaging in discussions, presenting projects as oral reports, writing essays and research papers, etc.) under the assumption that this repertoire of instructional strategies, which are effective with native English speakers, will meet the learning demands of ELs. However, ELs are in the process of learning English, and they cannot yet learn content solely by using the strategies mentioned above.

A growing body of literature indicates that ELs benefit from different kinds of supports to learn content and the second language (L2). Because culture is closely related to ELs’ L1, research suggests that teacher preparation programs should not limit their approach to preparing teachers in implementing instructional strategies solely, but rather provide on-going opportunities in understanding issues of diversity and cultural awareness (de Jong & Naranjo, 2019; Colombo et al., 2013; Durgunoğlu & Hughes, 2010; Frankenberg & Siegel-Hawley, 2008; Lucas et al., 2008). Culture plays a crucial role in ELs’ learning because it directly influences ELs’ identities, how they view themselves, and how others view them. Teachers can benefit from understanding ELs’ “cultural and linguistic ambivalence or frustration” (de Jong & Harper, 2005, p. 115) so that ELs are not forced to shift and abandon their cultural practices.

Initiative to prepare teachers to teach ELs

To address prospective teachers’ ill-preparedness to teach ELs, Lucas et al. (2008) suggested the incorporation of infused model programs into curriculum that would distribute specialized knowledge on how to teach ELs across teacher preparation instructors. Following this stance, Nutta et al. (2012) developed the One Plus Model, which provides ways to systematically add EL language-related content to existing course work. Nutta et al. (2012) remarked the importance of winning faculty support, assessing needs, and developing capacity, and they share strategies for avoiding pitfalls. The researchers claimed that this model can benefit general education teachers and teachers with TESOL certificates. Such efforts to integrate ELs’ preparation into teacher preparation programs have been carried out. For example, one approach consists of faculty members redesigning and reorganizing course content to prepare prospective teachers s on how to teach ELs across the curriculum and their field experiences (Bleicher, 2011).

Coady et al. (2016) examined the perceptions and practices of novice teachers who graduated from a teacher preparation program at a university in Florida. Researchers noted that the program had a strong emphasis on bilingualism. Additionally, the focal teachers spoke Spanish as L2. However, the novice teachers’ approach to teaching ELs relied only on exposing ELs to English and to Euro-American cultural experiences as opposed to embracing ELs’ L1 and their cultures. Lastly, the authors claimed that there was little evidence of novice teachers differentiating instruction. Li et al. (2017a) designed an add-on model program (Lucas & Grinberg, 2008) in the form of modules. This six-module online lab course sought to support a group of 24 Teaching English as-a-Second Language (TESOL) prospective teachers in a large Midwestern university on how to teach ELs in mainstream classrooms. The modules explored three domains of knowledge—understanding ELs in diverse contexts, communicating and connecting with families of ELs, and ESL teaching strategies. The twenty-four prospective teachers in the study reported to have gained much knowledge related to teaching ELs from the modules.

An increasing body of research related to ELs suggests that teacher education and professional development (PD) programs would realize advantages from increasing cultural awareness and providing general classroom teachers with information on instructional strategies commonly used in ESL and bilingual settings (Li et al., 2017b; Ankeny et al., 2019; Lucas et al., 2008). At the same time, research highlights the importance of programs that model the enactment of ESL instructional strategies and to support prospective teachers throughout the enactment of these strategies (Ankeny et al., 2019; Coady et al., 2016, Cummins, 2014; de Jong & Harper, 2005).

Considering the changes of demographics in public schools, and how these changes influence the ways teacher preparation programs support prospective teachers, this study sought to describe prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice within a PD program to differentiate instruction for ELs in general education classrooms. Specifically, I described prospective teachers’ pedagogical reasoning and instructional practices when designing tasks and lesson plans with differentiated instruction throughout the stages of the Instructional Strategies, Design, Engagement, Approximation of Practice, and Learning (IDEAL) framework.

Theoretical background

This PD builds on the IDEAL framework (Hinojosa, 2018) which helps explain the design, implementation, and outcomes of the PD program. The IDEAL framework draws upon the sociocultural theoretical perspective (Lantolf, 2000) which conceptualizes teacher learning as a long-term ongoing process that results in and from the participation of prospective teachers in socially mediated activities (Leont’ev, 1981; Vygotsky, 1978). This framework is described as a trajectory of participation which takes place in three iterative stages: (1) the professional development program stage, (2) the approximation of practice cycle, and (3) the appropriation of practice stage. This trajectory is contained within an overarching arrow that represents a community of practice (CoP; Wegner, 1998) in which participating prospective teachers begin their participation toward expertise. Stage One describes the design of the PD program. The design builds on prospective teachers’ learning needs (Feiman-Nemser, 2003; Garet et al., 2001) and provides access to practical resources and opportunities to reflect about prospective teachers’ development of their teaching practices as these inform students’ learning within a CoP. As pointed out in the IDEAL, this program emphasizes developing cultural awareness and provides instructional strategies to support ELs’ learning outcomes. The program, its implementation, and the content were assessed on a periodic basis based on prospective teachers’ progress, reported learning needs, and feedback.

Stage Two describes three components within the approximation of practice cycle: approximation of practice, representation of practice, and onsite coaching. Approximations of practice (Grossman et al., 2009) provided prospective teachers with opportunities to rehearse instructional strategies in a safe space, to engage in discussion on how to implement those strategies, to receive constructive feedback from a coach, and to reflect on how the content of the program supported students’ learning. Representations of practice (Grossman et al., 2009) such as videos with instructional strategies, scaffolds, and models for integrating language and content instruction, provided demonstrations of those teaching practices and on how to engage in discussions that foster reflection and thinking. Finally, coaching during the PD program allowed prospective teachers to learn in collaboration with “colleagues and experts who can model effective practices, build background knowledge and prompt reflection” (Birkeland & Freiman-Nemser, 2012, p. 115). In IDEAL, coaching during prospective teachers’ approximation of practice promoted the enactment of instructional strategies from the program, and allowed prospective teachers to attend to the complexity of teaching in a safe space.

Stage Three focuses on appropriations of practice (Hinojosa, 2022; Grossman et al., 1999) to illustrate the developmental process of enactment and appropriation of instructional strategies to differentiate instruction in general education classrooms. In the appropriation stage, prospective teachers received feedback on lesson plans and on planning and debriefing sessions, as well as onsite coaching supports during classroom observations. The process of appropriation varied in degrees that ranged from lack of appropriation, appropriating a label, appropriating surface features, appropriating conceptual underpinnings, and achieving mastery (Grossman et al., 1999).

The IDEAL framework is appropriate for this study because it explains how particular design features of the PD program potentially supported prospective teachers’ enactment and appropriation of instructional strategies to teach ELs in general education classrooms. At the same time, this framework helped explain the phenomenon of how prospective teachers negotiated new ways of teaching as they engaged in iterative stages of practice through the trajectory of participation. In relation to teacher learning, this perspective emphasizes the role of prospective teachers’ agency while they situate their enactment and appropriation of instructional strategies to teach ELs in social contexts, going beyond what prospective teachers have learned in the PD and shared in the CoP, and extending it to the development of their classroom practices.

Design and methods

To understand the ways in which prospective teachers interacted with approximations of practice and representations of practice within a professional development program, I did a mixed-method longitudinal study. Because of its emphasis in qualitative data, this study has a two-phase sequential exploratory design (Creswell, 2009; Leedy & Ormrod, 2013). For the quantitative portion of the study, I used surveys which broadly gathered information about participants’ preparedness and learning needs to differentiate instruction for ELs in general education classrooms; to provide context to the study; and to inform the content of the PD program. For the qualitative part of the study, I used an embedded case study (Yin, 2014) with 47 units of analysis to describe prospective teachers’ participation in a PD program which sought to prepare them to differentiate instruction for ELs in general education classrooms. In the following sections, I describe the context and participants in each stage of the study, and the materials and procedures used to gather and analyze data.

Stage 1

Context and participants

The participants were seniors (4^th year) and interns (5^th year) enrolled in an elementary program in a College of Education at a U.S. Midwestern university, as well as mentor teachers and teacher preparation instructors from the same program. The design of the program was a product of a longitudinal study in which the program was piloted, assessed, and improved over a four-year period based on the reported learning needs of the stakeholders (i.e., prospective teachers, teacher preparation instructors, mentor teachers, and field supervisors).

Participants were sent an email with a link to complete surveys. After giving their consent to participate in this study, respondents were directed to the online survey. The completion of the survey took from 15 to 25 minutes. In the spring semester 2016, there were 432 seniors and interns. Ninety-four (21.7%) prospective teachers responded to the survey (61.3% seniors, 38.7% interns). One-hundred twenty-two (36%) out of the 338 mentor teachers of the prospective teachers responded to the survey.

Frankenberg and Siegel-Hawley (2008) reported that 85% of the teachers in the U.S. are middle class, White, and monolingual; 87.5% have had little or no training in teaching linguistically diverse students, and only 29% have had training in designing teaching for racially diverse groups. The demographics of prospective and practicing teachers in the present study were similar to these overall demographics of U.S. teachers (Table 1). When it comes to preparedness, data differs: 64.1% of practicing teachers and 83.8 of prospective teachers reported to feel prepared to teach ELs in general education classrooms.

Table 1. Prospective and participant mentor teachers by ethnicity or race.

	Prospective Teachers		Mentor Teachers
	SAMPLE SIZE	TOTAL (%)	SAMPLE SIZE	TOTAL (%)
ETHNICITY OR RACE White (Non-Hispanic)	86	89.3%	109	89.5%
African American	0	.0%	7	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5	6.7%	3	2.4%
Asian	2	2.7%	1	.8%
Other	1	1.3%	2	1.6%
Full Sample	94	100%	122	100%

Source: ELs’ Prospective Teachers Survey and ELs’ Mentor Teachers Survey, spring 2016.

Data collection and analysis

The surveys asked stakeholders to report on what they wanted to learn to be better prepared to teach ELs (e.g., perspectives on current teaching practices, how knowledgeable do you feel to teach ELs, have taken courses in multicultural education, etc.). Participants’ responses helped build the content of the PD program. To analyze the qualitative data from the surveys, I used a multi-leveled thematic analysis (Lapadat, 2010) to look for similarities and differences in participants’ responses throughout the data set. This allowed me to identify common themes related specifically to what prospective and practicing teachers wanted to know. For example, four themes broke down the instructional strategies that participants reported they wanted to know in four groups (i.e., differentiated instruction, parental engagement, assessment, and culture/language) to later have more specific themes (e.g., strategies to support beginning ELs, create a supportive learning environment, making language and content accessible, initial assessment, the role of parents, etc.). Finally, I used Bowen’s (2009) thematic analysis for pattern recognition. Two researchers did a thematic analysis to ensure inter-rater reliability with a 90% agreement on 96% of the themes. This phase allowed me to come up with the final themes and sub-themes on how the program is broken down. From this analysis six major themes emerged (see Table 2).

Table 2. What do prospective teachers and mentor teachers report they would like to know to better teach ELs?

	Prospective teachers		Mentor teachers
THEMES	N	TOTAL (%)	N	TOTAL (%)
1. Strategies	68	39.2%	44	37%
2. Differentiated Instruction	38	21.8%	23	19.4%
3. Culture and Language	30	17.2%	23	19.4%
4. Parental Engagement	23	13.2%	20	16.8%
5. Assessment	9	5.2%	7	5.8%
6. Demographics and Policies	6	3.4%	2	1.6%
Total Responses	174	100%	119	100%

Note: This table reports on the number of responses that are aligned to each major theme, and the percentages that each theme represents. To collect these data, respondents could not type any input, or type a maximum of four options.

Stage 2

Context and participants

Throughout iterative cycles of the program design and pilot studies with stakeholders, the program was improved based on its stages of implementation and outcomes. On the last implementation of the PD program, on which this paper reports, the focal unit of analysis was 47 prospective teachers in the year 2017–2018. I used purposive sampling (Remler & Van Ryzin, 2015) to select the participants from the first phase of the study. Forty-four prospective teachers were female and 3 were male. Eleven identified themselves as students of color. Eleven prospective teachers held a TESOL endorsement and had experience teaching ELs in pull-out settings prior their internship year.

Content and foci of the program

The PD program was designed to promote prospective teachers’ engagement in tasks that made learning more meaningful and relevant to the contexts and problems of teaching ELs in general education classrooms. It also aimed to foster prospective teachers’ understanding of how the inclusion of ELs’ cultures made content relevant. Another goal was to provide opportunities for prospective teachers to enact pedagogical tools that enabled them to teach ELs; to reconstruct teaching practices as they internalized ways of thinking about cultural practices; and to transform their conceptions of teaching ELs. The program explored the themes that are clarified in Table 3—the same themes listed in Table 2 and identified as important by stakeholders:

Table 3. Content and foci of the PD program.

Themes	Sub-themes
Strategies to teach ELs	Instructional strategies; create a supporting learning environment; ongoing strategies; how to welcome ELs; authentic and cognitively challenging tasks; maximize co-operative learning strategies; cross-cultural teaching; guided reading; word charts; using visuals; scaffolds; and classroom management.
Differentiated Instruction	Differentiating instruction; authentic tasks; supporting ELs in beginning stages; the role of language in mathematics; mathematical literacy; ELs learning mathematics; tips to teach mathematics.
Culture and Language	Understanding the importance of the L1; developing English language skills; language development strategies; making language and content accessible; and prior knowledge as a foundation.
Parental Engagement	The role of parents, strategies to engage parents and the community; and sharing information with parents.
Assessment	Accommodating ELs when taking standardized test; assessment of ELs; initial assessment; and adapting the program.
Demographics and Policies	A rapid growing population in public schools in the U.S.; and Every Student Succeeds Act.

As described in the IDEAL framework, the program provided prospective teachers a variety of representations of practice (Grossman et al., 2009) such as instructional strategies, scaffolds, and models for integrating language and content instruction for ELs. Further, it provided opportunities for approximations of practice (Grossman et al., 2009) in which prospective teachers rehearsed the enactment of such instructional strategies in a safe space with the support of a coach.

This program consisted of six multimodal-modules and six workshops. Each module had seven components (i.e., learning goals, table of content, instructional power point slides, online discussion forums, quizzes to check comprehension, videos, and feedback section. Participants completed the multimodal-modules asynchronously). Virtual environments provided opportunities for prospective teachers to go over the content of the program on their own time. In addition, prospective teachers reflected on ways to enact representations of practice from the multimodal-modules by answering thought-provoking questions which prompted them to reflect on students’ learning (e.g., Can you describe what you see there? What are students’ responses to the enactment of instructional strategies? How do you know that students are learning, etc.), by engaging in discussion with their peers, and by posting and responding to each other’s thoughts on discussion forums. In groups, prospective teachers shared the design of tasks based on the representations of practice they explored in the modules. Prospective teachers also received and provided peer feedback on how enact the instructional strategies to differentiate instruction in their field experiences.

Being aware of the importance of providing a safe space for prospective teachers to enact the content of the program, prospective teachers participated in six workshops—one after the completion of each multimodal-module. Each workshop lasted 60 minutes. During the workshops, Prospective teachers watched videos on how instructional strategies from the PD program could be enacted so that they rehearse them with the support of a coach. While watching the videos, prospective teachers focused on thought-provoking questions that allowed them to direct their attention to specific instructional strategies. That is, workshops provided prospective teachers with intensive and focused opportunities to reflect on and rehearse aspects of practice so that prospective teachers engaged in a dialogic process as we co-constructed knowledge to find ways to differentiate instruction for ELs.

Throughout the approximation of practice stage, prospective teachers worked on detailed cases of various ELs. The goal was for prospective teachers to consciously learn about the ELs in their field experiences, and to differentiate instruction based on their ELs’ specific cultures, learning needs, and educational backgrounds. For example, the cases prospective teachers worked on reflected the demographics of ELs in the local area, and provided detailed descriptions of ELs (e.g., country of origin, L1, educational background, schooling in the U.S., parents’ educational backgrounds, current grade and grade level, high-stakes test scores, academic strengths and areas of improvement, personal traits, and so on). In groups, prospective teachers read the descriptions of ELs, and they sought for instructional strategies that would support ELs in attaining grade level goals. For instance, in one case, the focal EL, Juan, was going through the silent period. The silent period is an interval of time in which ELs are unwilling or unable to communicate in the L2. Prospective teachers looked for strategies and designed tasks to support Juan’s learning content in a general education classroom. In addition, coaching during workshops supported prospective teachers to rehearse the enactment of instructional strategies, and to develop habits of mind and character and new ways of thinking as they co-constructed knowledge (Grossman et al., 2009) on how to teach ELs and focus on ELs’ learning outcomes.

Data collection

Forty-three prospective teachers gave consent to use their work throughout the PD program for data analysis. To explore prospective teachers’ interactions with approximations of practice and representations of practice to differentiate instruction for ELs, I triangulated data across data sources: 145 posts from the learning management online platform from 6 workshops, 33 lesson plans, and 40 assessments. Coding of the 145 posts took place in 3 cycles. In the online posts, prospective teachers were asked to work on cases that would resemble the ELs that they may have in their classrooms. These cases provided detailed descriptions of ELs such as country of origin, L1, educational background, schooling in the U.S., parents’ educational backgrounds, current grade and grade level, high-stakes test scores, academic strengths and areas of improvement, and personal traits. The goal was for prospective teachers to design tasks in which they differentiated instruction for ELs in content areas such as mathematics, literacy, science, and social studies. The final assessments were administered by an instructor. To analyze the questions, I paid close attention to the ways in which prospective teachers became more culturally responsive to ELs, differentiated instruction for ELs, and promoted parental engagement.

Data analysis

First, I reconstructed prospective teachers’ group responses to the questions and tasks by reading all posts. I adopted an interpretivist approach (Miles & Huberman, 1994) to have a clear understanding of prospective teachers’ responses to the tasks. I highlighted information related to the research question. I looked for evidence on the aspects of the program that supported prospective teachers to differentiate instruction. For example, I looked for quotes as evidence of prospective teachers including the program content. Additionally, across lesson plans and assessments, I looked for instructional strategies that differentiated instruction based on ELs’ individual characteristics and how prospective teachers became more culturally responsive. Second, I used a multi-level thematic analysis to capture the ways in which prospective teachers included instructional strategies from the program when designing tasks. I looked for recurrent themes and organized them into a meta-matrix (Miles & Huberman, 1994) based on the number of times that those themes were brought up. I assembled relevant data on a spreadsheet with provisional themes. Third, to refine the first codes and themes, I used Bowen’s model for thematic analysis for pattern recognition. I extracted the most salient codes and quotes into four categories (i.e., getting to know ELs, representations of practice, approximations of practice, and differentiated instruction). Finally, I looked at prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice throughout their participation in the PD program.

Prospective teachers also designed lesson plans for a science methods class. For these lesson plans, prospective teachers had to differentiate instruction based on the individual characteristics of the ELs in their classrooms. To analyze the lesson plans, I adopted an interpretivist approach to read each lesson plan and understand how prospective teachers differentiated instruction. Next, I highlighted instructional strategies in the lesson plans, and I used a multi-level thematic analysis to categorize them. I assigned short phrases that described the instructional strategies prospective teachers included. I re-read the lesson plans, summarized each, and highlighted instructional strategies in each summary. Next to each summary, I tallied the number and type of instructional strategies each lesson plan had. I also looked at whether, or not, prospective teachers had TESOL endorsement and the number of times they accessed the multimodal modules. This coding allowed me to divide the lesson plans in two groups—highly differentiated and differentiated—based on the type and number of instructional strategies. I used the instructional strategies in Table 3 to operationalize the categories. I also considered the number of instructional strategies prospective teachers used in the lesson plans. These are the 10 themes and the number of pieces of data for each theme in the highly differentiated group across lesson plans: consider ELs’ characteristics (8), grouping (10), activate schema (11), culturally responsive (5), push ELs to the next level (9), scaffold academic language (19), sentence stems/starters (11), comprehension questions (11), scaffolded instructions (10), and T-chart/Venn Diagram/worksheets (13). These are the 6 categories for the differentiated group and the number of pieces of data for each theme across lesson plans: visuals (19), hands-on (7), group/pair accordingly (17), labels (7), written instructions (11), and check understanding (6). Finally, I organized the highly differentiated and differentiated lesson plan summaries in a meta-matrix and juxtaposed them to tally the number of instructional strategies used in each lesson plan.

At the end of the PD program, prospective teachers took an assessment in which they elaborated a plan to differentiate instruction in general education classrooms the following academic year. To analyze the assessments, I asked a second researcher to do double coding as I did on the lesson plans, and I used Table 3 for the operationalization. First, I read and highlighted the instructional strategies from each assessment. I grouped the assessments in three categories based on the number of instructional strategies prospective teachers considered and the quality of their responses: high (15-20), medium (10-14), and low (6-9). I also assessed the quality of their responses by looking at whether, or not, prospective teachers considered ELs’ cultural and educational background prior to designing the plan, how prospective teachers designed the plan based on content areas, and how they intended to assess ELs’ progress throughout the academic year.

Next, I re-read the assessments from each pile and I used initial coding to look for emerging themes from the highlighted instructional strategies. I did a thematic analysis and four themes emerged: cultural awareness, get to know ELs one-on-one, differentiated instruction, and parental engagement. Each theme had sub-themes (e.g., communicate with ESL teacher, use high-stakes test scores and standards, make ELs feel welcomed, pair ELs with a buddy, maintain open line of communication with parents of ELs, incorporate and validate ELs’ cultures and languages, etc.). Finally, I organized the themes and subthemes in a meta-matrix and I tallied the instructional strategies prospective teachers considered important when teaching ELs.

Findings

Across the analysis, prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice made salient the enactment of ESL instructional strategies in general education classrooms to differentiate instruction for ELs. This could be seen in prospective teachers’ interactions with peers and the researcher-coach, reflections when designing lesson plans, reflections on implications of enacting ESL instructional strategies in general education classrooms, and the systematic incorporation of more instructional strategies when planning learning sessions throughout prospective teachers’ participation in the PD program. In the following sections, I described prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice in conjunction with ESL instructional strategies seeking for prospective teachers to support ELs became more culturally responsive. I described prospective teachers’ experiences while they iteratively worked on case scenarios which had detailed descriptions of ELs. I shared examples in which working on these cases supported prospective teachers’ development of habits of mind to think about ELs’ learning needs, current grade level, desired grade level, personal experiences, and cultures.

Critical to prospective teachers’ preparation to differentiate instruction for ELs was the use of representations of practice in the form of instructional strategies, case scenarios, videos, ELs’ work, coaching, and so on. Representations of practice prompted prospective teachers to reflect on ways to design tasks and to enact these instructional strategies. Representations of practice in the form of videos and ELs’ artifacts provided visual representations on how prospective teachers could differentiate instruction for ELs in general education classrooms.

Along with representations of practice, interactions with approximations of practice as prospective teachers worked on cases provided them with a safe space to rehearse the enactment of the tasks that included the instructional strategies from the PD program. In addition, interactions with approximations of practice were spaces for prospective teachers to reflect on ELs’ responses to those tasks. Working on detailed case scenarios that resembled what prospective teachers would encounter in their everyday teaching supported prospective teachers’ development of pedagogical reasoning. Prospective teachers selected instructional strategies according to ELs’ learning needs, designed tasks that were culturally responsive to each EL, and reflected on their enactment in relation to ELs’ learning outcomes. In other words, approximation of practice gave prospective teachers opportunities to rehearse the enactment of instructional strategies and to receive feedback from the researcher-coach and peer feedback prior enacting such strategies in their field experiences.

Finally, cultural awareness was infused the PD program and sought for prospective teachers to develop awareness of the consequences that cultural discontinuity had on ELs’ academic development, literacy practices, interrelationships, and parental engagement. Prospective teachers differentiated instruction by incorporating scaffolding strategies and designing tasks that made content more relevant to ELs’ cultures. Throughout their participation in the PD program, prospective teachers systematically incorporated additional instructional strategies, and their lesson plans became more culturally responsive. Prospective teachers considered ELs English and grade levels building from their conversations with ESL teachers in their schools, participation of ELs in their classrooms, and ELs’ scores in high stakes tests. Prospective teachers developed tasks reflecting on ELs’ current English levels and the levels ELs needed to be in according to their grade. Finally, when prospective teachers designed tasks and lesson plans, they sought to bridge the disconnections and inconsistencies between school-based norms and ELs’ cultures. These practices supported prospective teachers to interact with ELs one-on-one and to embrace and capitalize on their cultures and backgrounds. In the following sections, I described prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice with the support of the researcher-coach.

Representations of practice and coaching to differentiate instruction

In the PD program, representations of practice were in the form of written and visual representations of the enactment of instructional strategies. Instructional strategies and their explanations were reinforced by videos in which ELs from prospective teachers’ context interacted with and responded to such instructional strategies. In groups, prospective teachers reflected on how ELs would benefit from teachers learning about their academic backgrounds and knowledge of their L1 as a foundation to learn English and to be culturally responsive to ELs. During workshops, we discussed the importance of prospective teachers talking to ESL teachers at schools, learning about ELs’ scores in high-stake tests, and using those scores as a reference on where ELs were at the moment they took the high-stake test to where they were in their participations in the classroom. For example, Kate² made a connection between our conversations in workshops and what she had to consider when designing tasks for her ELs to benefit from the learning session,

The L1 helps students contextualize English. Students can use their background knowledge from their L1 to help make sense of L2. It is important to learn about the levels of language development because I need to understand where students are in their language development stages, and what I can do as an educator to help them move from one stage to another.

In this quote, Kate reflected on the importance of ELs’ using their L1 as a bridge to learn the L2 in relation to ELs’ stages in language development. Kate shared the importance of identifying where her ELs were at so that she could support them in learning English.

Language development

Prospective teachers also watched multiple videos that explained the process of language development. During workshops, prospective teachers received coaching supports to make connections between language development and ELs’ high-stakes test scores. After watching the videos, prospective teachers reflected and posted what they considered to be done prior differentiating instruction. For instance, Rose, Jason, and Dina shared,

Learning about the levels of language development is key to understanding where students are and how they can be best supported. For example, it would not be beneficial to give a student in the intermediate language proficiency stage a basic English learning activity. Knowing the levels allows educators to push students to keep learning more, while giving them necessary supports so they can find success.

Here, prospective teachers reflected on how the video helped them develop awareness of ELs’ different levels of language development and how ELs benefit from teachers learning about their educational background to provide the necessary supports for them to attain grade level.

Getting to know ELs

Getting to know ELs’ English level was only one step toward differentiating instruction based on ELs’ learning needs. Prospective teachers reflected on ELs in their classrooms and on ways to learn about them. Prospective teachers’ participation in the PD program encouraged them to have a strong line of communication with the ESL teacher in their school building and to find ways to work together to support ELs because ESL teachers are familiar with their ELs’ learning needs, progress, educational background, and families. For instance, after reading instructional strategies and watching videos on ESL teachers sharing ways to learn about ELs, Sally mentioned, “I have one EL in my class. I would like to get more information about his high-stakes test scores. I’d like to know a little more about what makes a student eligible for ESL services.” Angelica shared Sally’s perspective, and considered ELs’ culture,

I can collect data from ELs by talking to them and getting to know what they do at home or in their culture. I can talk with the ESL teacher to get data about their academics and find out more about their cultures through her since they are only first graders

Prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice supported them on finding different ways to learn about ELs’ educational background to differentiate instruction based on their individual learning needs. Prospective teachers realized that working alongside with the ESL teacher and using high-stakes test scores and standards could be one way to support ELs attain grade level.

Getting to know ELs’ cultural backgrounds

In Angelica’s reflection above, representations of practice developed prospective teachers’ awareness of the consequences of cultural discontinuity and encouraged them to find ways to learn about ELs’ cultures and educational backgrounds. Prospective teachers had opportunities to work on tasks which allowed them to reflect on instructional strategies and on videos for prospective teachers to develop a plan on how to learn about ELs’ cultures. Kelly concurred,

I could collect anecdotal data during both class and social interactions, observing the student in small groups, having one-on-one time to talk and get to know them. Observing them playing and outside of school, perhaps at specials during art or music

In this reflection, Kelly thought of other ways to learn about her ELs going beyond tests scores and classroom interactions. Kelly reflected on the importance of knowing her ELs as they socialized with other students in different contexts. In addition, prospective teachers’ interactions with representations of practice allowed them to realize the importance of developing parental engagement and building bridges to engage ELs’ families in the learning community. When working on a task after watching a video which depicted on parental engagement, prospective teachers reflected on how to engage with parents of their ELs. Referring to an EL student named Juan, Karen shared, “To collect data about his culture, I think I would reach out to his family to ensure the information I am receiving is accurate.” Strategies in the modules provided prospective teachers with strategies on how to support parents to support ELs at home and to build these bridges. On a task, prospective teachers had to design a plan using the instructional strategies from the modules and videos on how to connect with parents of ELs. Alex and Helen explained,

Have a book bag for parents and children to read. Even if parent cannot read, they can look at pictures and make predictions with child. Call parents and leave voicemails. Talk slowly so they can try to understand/interpret. Have parents/family come in as interpreter at the beginning of the year so they can ask questions, get to know teacher, and see the classroom

In this example, prospective teachers encapsulated the most useful instructional strategies from a video (including doing a picture walk in a book, calling parents at home, leveraging parents as interpreters early in the school year). During workshops, prospective teachers’ main concern was not speaking ELs’ L1. Representations of practice provided prospective teachers with strategies to talk with parents and engage them into the learning community without them having to learn ELs’ L1. For example, leaving voicemails, sending printed instructions, seeking for interpreters, use visuals to support understanding, and so on.

Promoting multiculturalism

Representations of practice allowed prospective teachers to learn how to promote multiculturalism in their classrooms. After reading the modules and watching videos which showed bringing diverse books in class, strategies to incorporate ELs cultures in instruction, etc.; prospective teachers were asked to reflect on specific strategies they could enact in their field experiences. Angelica noted, “I would make sure to have a diverse collection of books for all students to read about other cultures and ELs to learn more about their culture and feel recognized.” Similarly, Ana added, “To promote multiculturalism, I would use different stories that reflect their culture so that they feel included in the classroom family, and allow students to share personal stories.” The videos provided prospective teachers with representations on how and why to enact the instructional strategies from the modules. These experiences supported prospective teachers’ development of cultural awareness which allowed them to embrace and capitalize on diversity.

Scaffolding ELs’ learning

Representations of practice also provided examples on how to enact instructional strategies to scaffold ELs’ learning. Prospective teachers reflected on how the instructional strategies from videos they watched supported ELs’ learning. Rose shared,

One of the instructional strategies from the video is to use the gradual release of responsibility wherein the teacher follows the pattern of ‘I do-we do’ but without the ‘you do’ part being as strong. This was evident in the second example where the teacher taught new verbs through a chant type of song where she demonstrated the parts first, then did it with all of the students as a class. It allowed, once again, for that movement and learning to occur hand-in-hand.

Sara shared,

An instructional strategy from the video is to give students agency to take ownership of their learning. This can be done through stations where they are able to practice autonomy by choosing their own station and regulate themselves during the station time. Overall, with clear directions and routines and a variety of activities that emphasize repetition, ELs can succeed in all subjects.

In these episodes, prospective teachers reflected on how to enact the instructional strategies from videos and on how these strategies benefited ELs in their classroom. These interactions allowed prospective teachers to focus on ELs’ learning outcomes.

Approximations of practice and coaching to differentiate instruction

Interactions with approximations of practice were in the form of case scenarios with detailed descriptions of ELs. Case scenarios sought to promote prospective teachers to get ELs’ information prior to differentiating instruction, and to rehearse in a safe space the enactment of those instructional strategies with coaching supports and peer feedback. In groups, prospective teachers read the descriptions of ELs, and they used instructional strategies from the program to design tasks. For instance, in one case, the focal EL, Juan, was going through the silent period. Prospective teachers had to look for strategies to support his learning and rehearse how to enact this strategy. Molly explained,

Repeat the question to Juan in English and have him repeat what I just said to him. I feel that if I scaffolded him learning how to ask this question in English, he would be more inclined to understand what he is saying and how it is important for him to use his language.

When working on the same case, Mary said,

I would learn the meaning of the word is Juan trying to use to scaffold the use of meaningful vocabulary such as bananas. This is an authentic and non-threatening way to introduce Juan’s use of English. The nonverbal supports are helpful at first but they need to be used in conjunction with language support.

In analyzing these examples, prospective teachers considered the most suitable instructional strategies from the representations of practice in the program to rehearse those in the approximations of practice stage. Prospective teachers used a variety of scaffolds to support Juan, and when rehearsing in the workshops, they had in mind ELs’ responses to those strategies. These interactions allowed prospective teachers to design tasks focusing on ELs learning outcomes.

Being aware that ELs’ backgrounds and cultures differ, prospective teachers also worked on cases with ELs who came from refugee camps. Approximations of practice provided prospective teachers with detailed descriptions on what refugee camps were like and what ELs go through in those scenarios to find ways to support ELs in their classrooms. For example, Kate, Karen, and Alicia designed a plan to welcome Biak, a student coming from a refugee camp,

We would discuss refugee camps and Biak’s culture. We would learn how to pronounce her name correctly, learn a few words in Burmese, assign Biak a buddy, and label objects and places around the room with words and pictures. We would have English alphabet and number line posted in the classroom. We would incorporate Biak’s culture by bringing in objects to write about from Myanmar.

Interactions with approximations of practice allowed these prospective teachers to design a plan. They incorporated instructional strategies from the program when designing tasks seeking to capitalize on diversity to support Biak achieve his learning goals in the new learning environment. Further, interactions with approximations of practice provided a safe space for prospective teachers to rehearse the enactment of instructional strategies with the support of the researcher-coach. Prospective teachers gained experience not only on focusing on the classroom per se, but they developed a sense of how to support ELs adapt to the new school system. Jason, Tina, and Rose designed a task and shared,

To support Mustafa in the learning process, it is important to pair him with a buddy who ideally has a shared language, but if not available, any student who exhibits patience and empathy or other strengths in social skills. To facilitate Mustafa’s adjustment to the school would be to inquire into his interests. To adapt tasks to the subject areas we teach to include more culturally relevant and meaningful experiences. We would use examples, books, or otherwise build in places for Mustafa to connect the subject to their own experiences.

Here, prospective teachers combined instructional strategies from the program with being culturally responsive because they considered EL’s culture to make connections to the content Mustafa would learn in the new learning environment.

Prospective teachers worked on cases with a wide variety of descriptions. Diverse descriptions reinforced in prospective teachers the idea that not all ELs share the same characteristics and cultures, and there is a need to get to know them before differentiating instruction. On a task, prospective teachers had to read descriptions of four ELs to find similarities and differences. Susy, Helen, and Mary noted,

All four students are in 5^th grade but they are all at different levels of proficiency in English. They all identify with different L1s. To make the class more culturally responsive, we need to incorporate activities that are more relevant to their home countries. It is also important to not reject their cultures but rather allow these ELs to teach the class about their countries. Include more scaffolding like pre-reading comprehension questions, cloze activities, varying the types of questions asked, and Venn Diagrams.

Prospective teachers systematically became aware on how to support ELs’ academic development and to differentiate instruction by using high-stakes test scores and standards. Being knowledgeable of tests scores in relation to standards provided prospective teachers with necessary information to support ELs in the areas of more need. To do so, prospective teachers used several scaffolding strategies and incorporated ELs’ culture to make classes culturally responsive. Prospective teachers also worked on cases in which they differentiated instruction for content areas. For example, Lora and Alice worked on a case to teach social studies and they explained,

Olesya is comfortable working in small group activities and is a key participator. In a small group of three, her activity will be to create a summary of a non-fiction, historical text by creating a timeline to show cause and effect of the social studies content. Olesya will be able to talk about the text with her group, and her group can help her understand how to organize what she read into the timeline format. We will provide sentence starters to scaffold for the future writing of a paragraph summary of the text.

Here, prospective teachers chose strategies building on the EL’s strengths, learning preferences, and they provided scaffolds for the EL to write a summary. Dina, Jason, Rose, and Jane worked on a case to teach mathematics and they reflected,

When dealing with the Pythagorean theorem. The concept of labeling sides with letters may feel arbitrary or be confusing to Jetta, and it may be more prudent to label a triangle’s sides by color, such as green side, blue side, red side. Jetta has a strength with colors too. It is important to make vocabulary that is necessary, such as perimeter and area very visible and repeated frequently. The lesson should walk through what these two concepts are in a visual way, such as taking apart the green, blue and red sides and laying them end to end to find the length of the perimeter, and having physical models to fill with unit squares to show how area is a measurement of the space inside.

In this task, prospective teachers were aware that the strategies used with native English speakers would not benefit the E; as much; therefore, prospective teachers considered strategies aligned to the EL’s strengths. Despite the EL’s low English level, the prospective teachers designed tasks to push her to reach the next level and provided scaffolds to promote written production. Throughout the approximation of practice stage, prospective teachers received immediate feedback from the researcher-coach and from their peers prior enacting the instructional strategies in their field experiences. Feedback provided prospective teachers with opportunities to reflect on how to maximize ELs’ learning, to consider the most suitable instructional strategies to support ELs, and to rehearse the enactment of instructional strategies that were new to prospective teachers.

Differentiate instruction in lesson plans and assessments

Preparing prospective teachers to differentiate instruction was a systematic process. First, prospective teachers had to learn about ELs’ characteristics and cultures to determine what strategies to use. Next, prospective teachers worked on cases which allowed them to design tasks with differentiated instruction. Finally, prospective teachers designed lesson plans in which they differentiated instruction to enact in their field experiences. Toward the end of the PD program, prospective teachers design lesson plans with differentiated instruction. Prospective teachers differentiated instruction across 33 lesson plans. However, 46.5% of the prospective teachers showed more evidence of differentiated instruction. These prospective teachers included an average of 7 strategies per lesson plan in addition the use of visuals, hands-on, and labels. The strategies they used the most were scaffold academic language, use of T-charts/Venn-Diagrams/worksheets, sentence starters/stems, and comprehension questions. From the 20 prospective teachers that differentiated instruction the most, 6 (27%) of them had a TESOL background and all of them actively accessed the modules. The other 53.6% of prospective teachers used an average of 4 strategies per lesson plan. The strategies they considered the most were use of visuals, group/pair ELs accordingly, provide written instructions, and check for understanding. Out of the 23 prospective teachers 5 (22%) had TESOL background. These prospective teachers accessed the online modules once or twice throughout the duration of the PD program.

As rehearsed in approximations of practice, throughout the lesson plans, prospective teachers considered ELs language levels and high-stakes test scores and used those to push ELs reach the next level and to choose instructional strategies. For example, Kate and Kara teach different sections of 1^st grade in the same school. They designed a lesson to teach “Identifying Properties of Objects.” Kate and Kara focused on ELs’ high-stakes test scores and based on ELs’ levels, they used the following standards “ELL Standards: 24.7.5 ELL: Laboratory, 24.7.3 ELL: Interpersonal Strategies, and 24.7.1 ELL: Listening.” Kate and Kara planned to start by showing students a chart they made collaboratively with their students. This chart contained objects, colors, shapes, sizes, hard/soft descriptions. Kate and Kara provided students “physical objects to manipulate and use during the activities” along with “sentence stems to assist with writing using the low frequency science content specific vocabulary.” For example, “The_______is round,_____and heavy. The______is light,_____, and rough.” By providing academic language used in science as well as sentence stems, Kate and Kara scaffolded ELs “discussions and use of fluent English spoken and academic language in context.” In these examples, prospective teachers fully implemented the content of the program to differentiate instruction. Further, prospective teachers differentiated based on ELs’ language level pushing them to reach to the next academic level.

Rose and Jason worked together on a lesson plan for 5^th grade. Rose did not TESOL background, but Jason did. For this lesson, they discussed “Physical and Chemical Changes in Making Slime.” Rose and Jason decided to write 3 comprehension questions for students to focus on “Where did the foam come from? What happened to the ingredients? Could you undo what happened?” Then, they asked ELs to paraphrase the questions and share their understanding of the task to check for comprehension. After watching a video, students would “think-pair-share to ensure more equitable participation, and for students to prepare and organize the thoughts they wish to share.” Prospective teachers considered scaffolding ELs’ writing by providing “a modified worksheet with sentence stems to start the students’ observation writing.” The worksheet had “step by step instructions, pictures and labels to show various parts of the experiment (mixing, adding, activator, etc.).” Rose and Jason shared that they “will go through each of the questions and instructions and ask students to rephrase this in their own words to scaffold and chunk the linguistic components of the task.” Finally, students worked in groups “to add a visual model of their observations in the form of a T-chart/Venn-Diagram throughout the lesson with each group assigned a different color expo marker.” Rose and Jason provided sentence stems to assist ELs share the outcome of the experiment.

Prospective teachers were asked to elaborate a plan to support ELs in their classroom. Fifty percent of the responses developed a well detailed plan that included: differentiate instruction and assessment based on ELs’ cultures, and planning learning sessions that provide opportunities for ELs to engage in the material without sacrificing rigor. Prospective teachers considered strategies such as wait time, use of graphic organizers, provide instruction verbally and written, pair with a buddy, hands-on activities, label pictures, use images to support activities and content. The use of strategies that promote cultural awareness was highly considered: books representing different cultures, learn key phrases in ELs’ L1, have ELs share their culture if comfortable, and ensure that class materials are representative of different cultures. Similarly, prospective teachers mentioned differentiated instruction by using high-stakes test standards and having a strong communicative relationship with the ESL teacher. Most of the assessments included finding means of communication with ELs’ parents by having translators, maintaining an open line of communication with parents about progress, and finding ways parents can continue supporting their child. Prospective teachers also reflected on incorporating and validating ELs’ L1 and culture in the classroom by creating opportunities for ELs to showcase and share their experiences.

Discussion

Prospective teachers in this study participated in the PD program because they were interested in learning instructional ESL strategies that they could enact in general education classrooms to differentiate instructions for ELs. Interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice provided prospective teachers with opportunities to rehearse in a safe space the enactment of such instructional strategies with the support of the researcher-coach and peer feedback. This study has implications on teacher learning in relation to the importance of providing prospective teachers with opportunities to learn about instructional strategies to differentiate instruction through representations of practice, and to rehearse the enactment of these instructional strategies while being culturally responsive through approximations of practice. Analysis suggests that getting to know ELs’ educational, cultural, and family backgrounds provided prospective teachers with tools to differentiate instruction when designing tasks and lesson plans on a one-on-one basis. Prospective teachers reported that having information about ELs’ scores in high-stakes tests in relation to standards, allowed them to design tasks that supported ELs attaining grade level and meeting their learning needs.

As outlined in Stage One of the framework, the content of the program built on participants’ reported strengths and learning needs (Feiman-Nemser, 2003; Garet et al., 2001). Consistent with the literature (e.g., Li et al., 2017a; de Jong & Harper, 2005; Colombo et al., 2013; Durgunoğlu & Hughes, 2010; Lucas et al., 2008) the content of the PD program allowed prospective teachers to systematically examine and recognize ELs’ academic backgrounds, high-stakes tests scores, cultural and family backgrounds to determine what instructional strategies to use for each EL in their classrooms. Being culturally responsive to ELs was an on-going process, and it was infused in each task prospective teachers worked on. Culturally responsive tasks provided on-going opportunities to increase prospective teachers’ understanding of issues of diversity, cultural awareness, and more equitable instruction for ELs in their classrooms.

Following the IDEAL framework, iterative cycles of repetition between representations of practice and approximation of practice with the support of the researcher-coach (Hinojosa, 2018) made salient and visible for prospective teachers the implications of including instructional strategies in tasks and in lesson plans to enact them in their field experiences. These iterative interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice supported prospective teachers in designing tasks and lesson plans with differentiated instruction for each EL because prospective teachers developed awareness that ELs’ English, grade, and content knowledge levels varied. For example, representations of practice provided descriptions of instructional strategies used in ESL settings. These were reinforced by instructional videos on how to enact such instructional strategies in prospective teachers’ field experiences. These interactions provided prospective teachers with an understanding of what to expect and what they needed to do in their classrooms. In addition, these interactions provided prospective teachers with opportunities to understand and develop ways of seeing instructional strategies used in ESL settings (e.g., use ELs’ L1 as a bridge to learn English, respect the silent period, headline speech, simplify vocabulary and sentence structure, highlight key ideas and instructions, use many non-verbal cues, check often for comprehension, etc.) to extend these practices when teaching ELs across content areas. Prospective teachers focusing on thought-provoking questions while watching professional videos of teachers enacting ESL instructional strategies, differentiating instruction, making content culturally relevant, and promoting parental engagement, made aspects of practice visible. These practices may not have been clear by reading about the instructional strategies solely. Finally, interactions with representations of practice sensitized prospective teachers to what ELs feel in a general education classroom. This awareness prompted prospective teachers to consider instructional strategies to differentiate instruction when designing tasks and to enact them in their field experiences.

Prospective teachers’ interactions with approximations of practice were another step that supported prospective teachers’ enactment of instructional strategies from the PD program. I found that prospective teachers working on tasks while having ELs’ detailed characteristics of their cultural, family, and academic backgrounds, as well as information about high-stakes tests in relation to standards prompted prospective teachers to differentiate instruction on a one-on-one basis. Interactions with approximations of practice contributed to prospective teachers challenging their perceptions of ELs which in many cases were based on their own cultural norms and social practices. For example, using case scenarios promoted prospective teachers to consider ELs’ individual characteristics, to be responsive to cross-cultural differences, to differentiate instruction, and to get to know ELs at a personal level. These findings suggest that working on cases created in prospective teachers a habit of mind. In other words, prospective teachers learned to get to know ELs one-on-one to use tools to support them in their academic development across content areas. These findings have implication on the ways in which general education classroom teachers can use high-stakes test scores in relation to standards to differentiate instruction based on the individual learning needs for each ELs with the goal to support them in attaining grade and English levels.

Discussion forums in asynchronous meetings as well as prospective teachers’ participation in workshops supported them in engaging in the messiness of dialogue and contradictions to expand their ideas of what it means to promote ELs’ developing literacy practices, and on how to read ELs’ physical responses. Group work during workshops and when designing lesson plans with differentiated instruction supported prospective teachers focusing on analysis and reflection and to prepare themselves for the environments in which they would conduct their practice. Finally, lessons plans are evidence that iterative interactions with representations of practice and with approximations of practice promoted prospective teachers to differentiate instruction and to enact instructional strategies that enabled them to teach ELs in general education classrooms by thinking about ELs’ cultural practices and backgrounds. These cycles of interactions, “collaborative envisioning and a deliberate collective change effort” (Engeström, 2001, p. 137), supported prospective teachers to transform their conceptions of teaching ELs.

Conclusion

Interactions with representations of practice and approximations of practice in teacher learning represent a beginning step toward preparing prospective teachers to differentiate instruction for ELs in general education classrooms. These interactions supported prospective teachers’ understanding of language policy, promoted prospective teachers to be culturally responsive, allowed prospective teachers to create a cross-cultural approach that promoted English language practice, and provided prospective teachers with tools for them to engage parents of ELs in their children’s learning process. While this study has promising implications to prepare prospective teachers to differentiate instruction and teach in diverse settings, there is much work ahead. Future longitudinal studies are needed to look at the association of university course work on prospective teachers’ development of their teaching practice, and for longitudinal studies that explore the relationships between prospective teachers’ practices and ELs’ literacy development across content areas. Additionally, there is a need for research on teacher learning to differentiate instruction for ELs in general education classrooms with ESL instructional supports.

Declarations of interest

Acknowledgments

This study received funding from the College of Education, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education at Michigan State University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Ethical approval

This manuscript is original and has not been partially of fully published elsewhere. All participants have signed a consent form and were informed of the study. This study has IRB approved from the university in where the study was conducted.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by College of Education at Michigan State University and the Michigan State University Graduate School.

Notes

1 In this study, the term professional development program is used to refer to preparation prospective teachers voluntarily received. Neither this program was part of prospective teachers’ course work, nor prospective teachers received credit for their participation.

2 All names are pseudonyms.