Assessing U.S. teachers’ perceived confidence in practising linguistically and culturally responsive content teaching (LcRCT) with multilingual learners

In the evolving field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), there is a growing need for practical guidance on applying a functional approach to language development for multilingual learners (MLs) in K-12 classrooms. Applying a Functional Approach to Language Development addresses that need by focusing on the content areas of English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. This book offers innovative strategies for engaging students in exploring meaning in texts through classroom discussions about language. With the introduction of the new WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework (2020), the emphasis on a functional approach has become even more critical. The WIDA Standards highlight the importance of creating culturally and linguistically sustaining learning environments where MLs can thrive. The book underscores a commitment to equity for MLs by leveraging their linguistic and cultural assets, integrating content and language in collaborative settings, and making language visible as a tool for communication and a means to enact roles,through a functional approach. Grounded in systemic functional linguistics (SFL), this approach provides a metalanguage for discussing the meanings behind authors' choices and helps teachers identify language patterns to support MLs in understanding how language works. This methodology is applicable in any content classroom and is particularly vital for MLs as they expand their linguistic repertoires to engage effectively with educational content. The book is divided into two sections. Section 1 presents applied chapters that utilize a language-based approach to content instruction to design unit plans for MLs across K-12 grades. Section 2 showcases the implementation of a functional approach in teacher education programs across various states, offering valuable insights for educators. This comprehensive book aims to empower teachers with the tools and knowledge to plan effective instruction for MLs, fostering an inclusive and dynamic learning environment.

Translanguaging pedagogies support multilingual students by activating prior knowledge, integrating home languages and cultures, and utilizing multimodal learning. However, as equity-oriented pedagogies, they redress long-standing practices of denying students access to their home languages or demanding a strict separation of their interwoven repertoires. This article examines three multilingual resources designed for elementary and middle school classrooms that teachers can use to support a translanguaging stance: 1) bilingual alphabet charts, 2) Unite for Literacy website, and 3) the Make Beliefs Comix website. The examples presented in the article represent new ways to use existing materials to promote more equitable learning opportunities for multilingual learners.

This chapter looks at the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. English as a foreign language (EFL) is the term traditionally used to describe the sort of English taught in a context in which the dominant language is other than English, and there is little English used in the environment, other than for international communication. In order to maximise profitability and hold down costs, the publishing industry attempts to produce English language teaching textbooks, audiovisual material and teacher training materials that will be acceptable across as many different countries as possible. English as a second language (ESL) is the term traditionally used to refer to situations in which speakers of other home languages are learning English in a context in which English is the dominant language of public life. More generic terms used in context to cover both EFL and ESL are English language teaching (ELT) and, particularly in the USA, English to speakers of other languages (ESOL).

This study investigates how two secondary teachers in a Japanese partial English-immersion programme enacted translanguaging pedagogies under institutional monolingual policies. Grounded in Taoand Gao (2021) (Language Teacher Agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) transperspectival model of teacher agency, it examines how teachers’ identities, beliefs, professional knowledge, and affective orientations intersect to shape their agency in implementing context-responsive practices across their professional trajectories. Drawing on a qualitative, multi-method design comprising life-story narrative interviews, classroom observations, and ethnographic fieldnotes, the analysis reveals that both teachers employed translanguaging as a form of dual mediation – deepening disciplinary understanding while alleviating affective constraints for emergent bilingual and multilingual learners. By mobilising English as a lingua franca among linguistically diverse students and drawing on L1 resources among Japanese-dominant learners, both teachers reinterpreted top-down monolingual directives as flexible, classroom-level micro-policies. Their agentive practices evolved through accumulated professional and personal experiences, illustrating how agency is historically situated and relationally mediated. The study conceptualises teacher agency as both pedagogical praxis and ideological negotiation, foregrounding contingency as moment-to-moment responsiveness to classroom, institutional, and affective dynamics. It calls for systemic reform in policy and teacher education to foster translanguaging pedagogies that align with Japan’s increasingly plurilingual educational ecology.

This study investigates how five teachers of multilingual learners (MLLs), working in an officially English‐centric school district, make sense of a reading curriculum based in translingual pedagogies, or instruction that builds on language and languaging practices (e.g., language brokering, translation, and codemeshing) familiar to multilingual youth. Participating teachers, describing themselves as mostly monolingual educators, utilized the curriculum during a support class for their MLLs. We show how this curriculum, containing what we classify as educative curriculum materials (Davis & Krajcik, 2005), operated to support, and extend linguistically supportive instructional practices occurring within participating teachers' classroom figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998). Using data from classroom observations and teacher interviews, we show how the curriculum operated as a mediating artifact to support teachers' development of more linguistically diverse practices within their classrooms. Findings indicate that curriculum materials bridged theory to practice by supporting teacher development of these practices, which, in turn, bolstered their beliefs in the importance of students' home languages, and led to a shift in how teachers understood, interpreted, and resisted English‐centric policies at their schools.

IntroductionThe fast-growing population of multilingual learners (MLs) in U.S. schools calls for ML-focused instructional support from content classroom teachers to acquire content knowledge and language proficiency simultaneously. However, teachers in general lack competency in content-language integrative pedagogy that builds on MLs’ transliterate capabilities, placing MLs at a greater disadvantage in the content classroom. Given that teachers’ classroom practices are shaped by their underlying language ideologies, it is important to examine what ideological beliefs and attitudes teachers are operating with for their day-to-day work with MLs. Framed by scholarship on content-language integrated instruction, language ideologies, and transliteracies approaches, this study examined the relations between content teachers’ ideological beliefs and attitudes toward teaching MLs in the content classroom and several teacher-related variables.MethodsThis study employed a sequential mixed-methods design for a more comprehensive understanding of teachers’ ideologies about working with MLs. Quantitative data analysis was conducted by confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regressions using survey responses of in-service content teachers (N=100) followed by focus group interviews (N=24).ResultsResults of a confirmatory factor analysis using a survey suggested that teachers who were more likely to endorse English-only monolingual pedagogy did not necessarily view themselves as having lesser sensitivity to MLs’ backgrounds in their classroom. Results of regression analyses showed that teachers using pull-out or push-in instruction were more inclined to support language-integrated content teaching and considered themselves more sensitive to MLs’ backgrounds than teachers who instruct specialized content. Interestingly, the specialized content teachers having a greater percentage of MLs in their classroom were more supportive of the language-integrated content teaching pedagogy than other teachers using the teaching role. Analysis of focus groups provided contextualized rationales for teachers’ chosen stances toward the English-only monolingual, separatist pedagogy or the transliterate, integrative pedagogy for MLs.DiscussionThe findings demonstrated that teachers’ ideologies were not merely individual beliefs but also intertwined with the hegemonic language ideologies of the larger education system. The complexity of the shifting ideologies points to the pressing need for integrating ML-specific attention into teacher education and ongoing professional development programs.

Within the K-12 school setting, multilingual learners (MLs) face many challenges related to understanding and learning critical content knowledge. Because K-12 content requires highly advanced and technical vocabulary, academic discourse, and strong writing skills, the material can be complex for MLs to grasp and master fully. Unfortunately, teachers sometimes underestimate MLs’ abilities in school and purposefully simplify content to help them comprehend classroom material more expediently (Pettit, 2011). These simplifications may impact their ability to learn higher-order thinking skills or their overall academic progress. To address the need to make content both accessible and challenging, teachers may consider using appropriate scaffolding techniques, such as incorporating students’ home languages and visual supports that value MLs’ contributions to their classes and enable them to grow academically. [First Paragraph]

Despite the substantive scholarship on secondary language education with multilingual learners (MLs) and growing body of work on MLs' postsecondary access, relatively few studies have examined the influence of educators other than classroom teachers such as high school counselors on MLs' academic outcomes. We report on a qualitative study comparing and contrasting college access beliefs and experiences of MLs with those of school counselors in one diverse school district in the southeastern U.S. Data come from mentoring sessions with students; interviews with school counselors; school documents; student record data; and student observations. ML and educator perceptions and behavior are interpreted through a Bourdieusian practice theory lens that sees college access as shaped by the interaction of student resources and dispositions with school social structures. In particular, we tap Bourdieusian notions of the role of institutional belief systems (or doxa) about college access to show how students negotiate discontinuities (or hysteresis) between their assumptions and beliefs and the new educational system they encounter. We find that despite counselors' best efforts, MLs faced significant challenges to college access. Implications are offered for how educational stakeholders can advocate for college‐bound MLs.

For many Indigenous children living in remote communities, the prerequisites to achieving strong language and learning outcomes include the maintenance of their first languages and progress in learning English as an additional language. This paper reports on data from a Linkage study conducted with families at two Families as First Teachers (FaFT) playgroups in two remote Northern Territory communities. The data highlight the ways parents and carers encouraged very young children to engage in home languages as a foundation on which to develop skills in English during play and book reading activities. Transcripts of mother-child book reading and play sessions and reflections of FaFT Family Liaison Officers are examined to explore the language interactions and the strategies used by mothers to support children’s multilingual learning. The data highlight the importance of early childhood teaching and learning that honours children’s linguistic and cultural resources and prioritises families’ aspirations for children’s multilingual language learning.

We propose a conceptual framework for STEM education that is centered around justice for minoritized groups. Justice‐centered STEM education engages all students in multiple STEM subjects, including data science and computer science, to explain and design solutions to societal challenges disproportionately impacting minoritized groups. We articulate the affordances of justice‐centered STEM education for one minoritized student group that has been traditionally denied meaningful STEM learning: multilingual learners (MLs). Justice‐centered STEM education with MLs leverages the assets they bring to STEM learning, including their transnational experiences and knowledge as well as their rich repertoire of meaning‐making resources. In this position paper, we propose our conceptual framework to chart a new research agenda on justice‐centered STEM education to address societal challenges with all students, especially MLs. Our conceptual framework incorporates four interrelated components by leveraging the convergence of multiple STEM disciplines to promote justice‐centered STEM education with MLs: (a) societal challenges in science education, (b) justice‐centered data science education, (c) justice‐centered computer science education, and (d) justice‐centered engineering education. The article illustrates our conceptual framework using the case of the COVID‐19 pandemic, which has presented an unprecedented societal challenge but also an unprecedented opportunity to cultivate MLs' assets toward promoting justice in STEM education. Finally, we describe how our conceptual framework establishes the foundation for a new research agenda that addresses increasingly complex, prevalent, and intractable societal challenges disproportionately impacting minoritized groups. We also consider broader issues pertinent to our conceptual framework, including the social and emotional impacts of societal challenges; the growth of science denial and misinformation; and factors associated with politics, ideology, and religion. Justice‐centered STEM education contributes to solving societal challenges that K‐12 students currently face while preparing them to shape a more just society.

Purpose This study aimed to explore how educational technology influenced a preparatory teacher education program using heteroglossic and global approaches. Design/Approach/Methods The researchers drew upon the theoretical framework of multilingual digital storytelling (MDST), which emphasizes the intercultural awareness attributes of multilingual learners (MLs) and takes a heteroglossic perspective in linguistic pedagogy. This qualitative case study examined the experiences of 11 U.S.-based preservice teachers (PSTs) and 12 MLs elementary students in Korea in the MDST project of a TESOL methods course. Findings The findings showed that PSTs and MLs enhanced their appreciation for educational technology, multilingualism, and intercultural awareness. Although the project aimed to decenter English as a hegemonic language, both PSTs and MLs maintained traditional discourses that privileged English over MLs’ home language and targeted literacy correctness in written English only, moving away from the heterogeneous goals of the course project. PSTs and MLs also faced challenges in navigating technological tools, which negatively affected their perception of the project. Originality/Value This study contributes to heteroglossic approaches in preparatory TESOL teacher education programs and improves the understanding of challenges in educational technology use for global multilingual exchanges to promote global citizenship.

Drawn from both existing research and the author’s research experiences in middle schools in the United States, this research synthesis paper will highlight the key principles of culturally and linguistically responsive teaching (CLRT) for multilingual learners (MLLs) who are acquiring English as an additional language. Although CLRT is regarded as an important framework for middle grade MLLs’ learning, there is a lack of resources that provide a comprehensive view of historically/theoretically ground and research-based approaches for middle grade educators to consider in the classroom. This paper attempts to address this need by discussing the historical orientation of CLRT and its five major principles commonly identified in relevant literature. These principles include: (1) building foundational knowledge of MLLs’ home languages, (2) offering translanguaging space for MLLs’ linguistic repertoire, (3) using multimodality for MLLs’ engagement, (4) implementing integrated approaches for content and language, and (5) seeking collaboration for MLLs’ diverse needs. These key elements of CLRT provide insight into how middle grade teachers can support equitable access to learning opportunities for MLLs.

With nearly five million multilingual learners in U.S. schools, research is warranted for effective instruction that permits equal access to content standards through language diversification. Multilingual learners (MLs), students learning English who benefit from linguistic support to attain academic achievement, are served through models in U.S. schools that vary according to student needs and staffing capability, with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) as the dominantly implemented format. ESOL is a federally and locally funded program that provides structured academic and linguistic support and accountability for MLs across all grade levels. The purpose of this literature review is to compare the utility and effectiveness of the four program models approved by the U.S. Department of Education to effectively teach content and language to MLs in public schools: (a) structured English immersion, (b) bilingual education, (c) dual language or two-way immersion programs, and (d) English for Speakers of Other Languages (U.S. Department of Education & U.S. Department of Justice, 2015). Furthermore, this article is intended to examine the overarching model of ESOL—the most employed model in the U.S.—and the prominent delivery format of co-teaching. Each of the models mentioned above is discussed in this paper, followed by a delineation of state and federally-approved formats of ESOL: pull-out, push-in, resource labs, sheltered classes, innovative delivery models, and co-teaching. This article concludes with an examination of co-teaching, a subset of ESOL in which a general education educator and an ESOL teacher co-plan, co-instruct, and co-assess an integrated classroom of MLs and non-MLs.

Despite the increased acknowledgment of multilingualism in the United States, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teacher education courses remain non-inclusive of many languages spoken by multilingual learners (MLs). Instead, they focus mainly on the study of the English language system. Neglecting to support MLs’ heritage languages (HLs) inadvertently reinforces prevalent monolingual ideologies and marginalizes MLs in classrooms (Barros et al., Journal of Language, Identity & Education 20:239–254, 2020; Flores, N., & Aneja, G. (2017). “Why needs hiding?” Translingual (re)orientations in TESOL teacher education. Research in the Teaching of English, 51(4), 441–463. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44821275 ; Tian, Z. (2020). Faculty first: Promoting translanguaging in TESOL teacher education. In S. M. C. Lau & S. Van Viegen (Eds.), Plurilingual pedagogies: Critical and creative endeavors for equitable language in education (pp. 215–236). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36983-5_10). Translanguaging pedagogy with its heteroglossic approach creates a language ecology in which all students enrich teaching and learning experiences with more democratic approaches (Deroo and Ponzio, Bilingual Research Journal 42:214–231, 2019; Khote and Tian, Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 5:5–28, 2019); however, both teachers and teacher educators know little about how to integrate translanguaging pedagogy into their coursework. In this case study, drawing upon (Bakhtin, M. (1981). Dialogic imagination: Four essays. University of Texas Press.) heteroglossia, we explore how pre-service teachers (PSTs) responded to translanguaging pedagogy in a TESOL education course. Data were collected through course assignments and interviews with 11 PSTs. Findings showed that PSTs embraced translanguaging in multiple ways that reflected heteroglossic perspectives in education. First, PSTs operationalized translanguaging as translations used to teach language and content lessons. Second, they took an active role in preparing lessons. Third, they understood translanguaging as a classroom ecology. While PSTs recognized the benefits of translanguaging for MLs, they also struggled with the translanguaging pedagogy because they could not imagine the full potential of translanguaging for themselves and their students. This study has implications for teacher educators, curriculum developers, and language teachers who grapple with bringing multilingualism to the center of TESOL that has traditionally privileged English-only.

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study on multilingual speakers conducted in Germany. Data were collected using a questionnaire instrument launched in 2021. To our knowledge, this is the first enquiry into multilinguals’ own perception of their spoken languages in Germany. The core research questions addressed in this paper are (1) whether some languages are perceived as more valuable or prestigious than others by their speakers and (2) whether speakers of certain languages experience discrimination more often than speakers of other languages. In the data exploration it was assumed that (a) all languages other than English, French, Italian, and Spanish (besides Latin the standard foreign languages in schools) will be valued ‘lower’; and (b) speakers will report experiences of discrimination with respect to their use of those languages other than German or the foreign languages mentioned above. The results indeed demonstrate differences in the perceived value and prestige of certain languages. Multivariate statistical analyses indicate that L1 speakers of languages with perceived lower value (e.g. Turkish) experience discrimination significantly more often than L1 speakers of other home languages (e.g. English). Additionally, qualitative data analyses exemplify levels of discrimination and lived experience of languages.