Developing Translanguaging Stances in ESOL-Focused Teacher Education Courses: Teacher Candidates’ Beliefs about and Knowledge of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education

Abstract

The population of emergent bilingual students in the United States is growing rapidly, requiring that teachers be prepared to provide them with an effective education. Inadequate preparation of teachers to work with these students indicates the need to revise the ways that teacher education programs address this issue (Palmer & Martínez, 2013), including investigation of teacher candidates’ (TCs) beliefs and experiences. Drawing on translanguaging theory, this qualitative study used written responses to two key questions at two time points to investigate TCs’ beliefs about and knowledge of bilingualism and bilingual education. Even after experiencing a semester in a teacher education course focused on dynamic bilingualism, findings highlight TCs’ general maintenance of monolingual beliefs about bilingualism and bilingual education with some expansion into a dynamic, strengths-based perspective. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.