Sociocultural approaches to mobile learning in bilingual teacher preparation: The benefits of SAML as both a strategy and belief

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents a cooperative inquiry into how teacher educators prepare bilingual teacher candidates to adopt sociocultural approaches to mobile learning in their field-based courses as a platform for engaging their culturally and linguistically diverse learner populations. A sociocultural approach to mobile learning (SAML) uses mobile devices to bridge students’ home and school lives in meaningful and relevant learning experiences. This study provides insight into how and why teacher educators should prepare bilingual preservice teachers to use mobile learning to address the cultural and linguistic needs of diverse learner populations. The authors posit that adopting sociocultural approaches to mobile learning is not just a strategy but a belief that teaching is about empowering students, being responsive to their cultural and linguistic needs, valuing their diversity, creating equitable access to technology, and making learning relevant and authentic – all of which can be facilitated through mobile learning. These beliefs that are facilitated by SAML are extended to the bilingual teacher candidates and ultimately onto their future students.