TESOL and Early Childhood Collaborative Inquiry: Joining Forces and Crossing Boundaries

Abstract

Preparing early childhood educators to support effective instruction of English language learners (ELLs) is an important dimension of teacher preparation programs, yet often difficult to enact. This article reports on a collaboration between early childhood education (ECE) faculty and teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) faculty at an urban teacher preparation program in an effort to better understand and enhance ECE and TESOL candidates’ beliefs and understandings of ELL pedagogy. Over the course of a semester, one section of practicum teacher candidates from these two programs met in person and online, as did their instructors, to identify common concerns and approaches from their respective discipline areas. Video records of teaching from early childhood classrooms with ELLs played a critical role in fostering collaborative inquiry. Implications for infusing the ECE curriculum to strengthen instruction for ELLs are discussed.