The Development of Language Knowledge in a Teacher Education Program: Preparing Secondary Teacher Candidates to Identify and Teach Academic English in their Content Area Lessons

Abstract

This mixed methods research study examined the impact of an intervention designed to prepare mainstream secondary teacher candidates to identify and teach features of Academic English. The intervention was intended to develop Disciplinary Linguistic Knowledge (Turkan, deOliveira, Phelps, and Lee, 2014) through engagement in several tasks for preparing linguistically responsive teachers (Lucas and Villegas, 2013). Pre-tests, post-tests, and artifacts created by teacher candidates in their fieldwork placements, as well as observations of a small group of teacher candidates teaching in their placement classrooms and interviews with these participants, were collected in order to analyze the effect that the intervention had on the teacher candidates’ identification of features of AE and their planning and implementation of instruction in these features. While the teacher candidates accurately identified features of AE on the post-tests and in the artifacts, only a small number of participants planned or implemented instruction in features of AE in their lessons. The experiences of the participants in the small group illustrated that teacher candidates need, in addition to the ability to identify features of Academic English, knowledge about how to teach these features, a commitment to teaching language in their lessons, and the support of supervisors and cooperating teachers who possess the same knowledge and commitment. The findings suggest that teacher education programs should engage both teacher candidates and the individuals who guide the planning and teaching of lessons in their pre-practicum experiences in developing the essential knowledge of and commitment to teaching Academic English in mainstream content area classrooms.