Making Adolescents’ Diverse Communicative Repertoires Visible: A Creative Inquiry-Based Approach to Preparing Teachers to Work with (Im)migrant Youth

Abstract

This article reflects on an on-going initiative to integrate collaborative, creative, and critical language awareness inquiry across a dual certification teacher preparation Masters program for secondary pre-service teachers in Wisconsin, USA. This teacher-as-researcher programmatic design seeks to expand teacher candidates’ critical multilingual language awareness and creative literacy practices in preparation for teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse schools. Drawing on theories of social representation, identity investment and critical language awareness, this article examines the use of a variety of creative approaches to engage teacher candidates reflexively in thinking holistically about themselves and their students as language actors rather than according to fixed language proficiency scores.