Sustaining and developing teachers’ dynamic bilingualism in a re-designed bilingual teacher preparation program

ABSTRACT

There is an expectation of bilingual proficiency as a requirement for admission into most bilingual teacher preparation programs, as well as licensing criteria and job requirements for bilingual teaching positions. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge the dynamic nature of bilingualism and that prospective teachers differ in the level of support they have received for developing their linguistic repertoire across institutions, communities, and home. Many bilingual teachers come to the profession with diverse experiences which influence their linguistic ideologies and repertoires. In this study, we interviewed teacher candidates at the end of their Spanish-English bilingual teacher preparation program to investigate their linguistic backgrounds and experiences. We analyzed their perspectives of their linguistic repertoires and dynamic language usage and how this impacts their pedagogy and the students they will ultimately teach. We discovered how linguistically and culturally sustaining pedagogies that integrate translanguaging and raciolinguistic frameworks can shape a graduate program with a long history of preparing bilingual teachers in an urban, linguistically diverse setting. Participants expressed their desire for more opportunities to practice and learn in Spanish. Furthermore, there was a transformation of how participants perceived their own language practices as legitimate and relevant to how they can structure their students’ learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingual education
• translanguaging
• culturally sustaining pedagogies
• bilingualism
• bilingual teacher preparation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 When they did the interview and the ‘proficiency exam’, I was very nervous because it had been a long time since I used Spanish in an academic way. I haven't written much in Spanish. That's why I was a lot in my mind.

2 That supports our people.

3 I loved it. I learned a lot to use the dictionary; I didn't know words in Spanish. But I loved it because I understand it, and it helps me a lot to learn new words that I didn't know (…) If I read in English, why can't I read in Spanish?

4 I always say ‘I don't care in which language, write.’ You see that the kid writes ‘mom and I go to the park,’ ‘mom and dad go to the supermarket’ or ‘I went with my family to ToysRUs.’ Or something like that, but they are writing. This year poetry was the best. [I told them] ‘We are going to be creative! We are going to write one line in English and one in Spanish. We are going to mix it! It was the best writing unit I did.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brian A. Collins

Brian A. Collins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Hunter College, CUNY and works to support bilingual education and emerging bilinguals. Dr. Collins' research focuses on the bilingual development of children of immigrants in the U.S. and how language competences interface among dimensions of children's social, psychological, and academic well-being. His research gives careful consideration to contextual factors in the home and school environment and factors unique to children of immigrants.

Maite (María Teresa) Sánchez

Dr. Maite (María Teresa) Sánchez is an Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education with the department of Curriculum and Teaching at Hunter College, CUNY. She's also a Project Advisor for CUNY-NYSIEB, (CUNY-New York State Initiative for Emergent Bilinguals), a professional development and materials development project that highlights the understanding and use of students' dynamic bilingual practices in schooling. Dr. Sánchez has worked closely with teachers, school administrators and state-level officials in New York, Massachusetts, and Peru to create professional development opportunities, materials, and research studies to better understand the dynamic bilingual trajectories of language minoritized students and to create educational opportunities that support these students.

Carla España

Dr. Carla España is the Bilingual Education Clinical Doctoral Lecturer at Hunter College, City University of New York. She is an expert on bilingual education and biliteracy practices across K-12 and higher education. Carla's research studies the ways teachers and bilingual students make meaning of their schooling, focusing on issues of translanguaging and culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogy in reading and writing workshop classrooms. Her research interests include bilingual education, translanguaging, culturally sustaining pedagogy, arts integration, Latinx education, teaching for social justice, curriculum development, and teacher preparation.