THE DEVELOPING EMPATHY, BELIEFS, AND SKILLS OF TEACHER CANDIDATES IN A FOUNDATIONAL COURSE ON TEACHING ENGLISH LEARNERS

Abstract

This dissertation examines the developing understandings of teacher candidates being prepared to teach ELs in general education PreK-12 classrooms. As the ethnic and linguistic diversity in U.S. classrooms continue to increase, it is crucial that teacher candidates receive high-quality, effective training in teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Relatively few states currently require general education preservice teachers to participate in any formal training related to teaching ELs. The states that do have requirements and the teacher education programs within those states have the potential to provide valuable data on how the training being provided mediates the meaning making of teacher candidates preparing to enter the field of teaching. Conducted during the fall of 2016 and using survey data, class assignments, interviews, and fieldwork observations from 11 preservice teachers (eight early childhood majors; three secondary education majors), this study describes patterns in the ways that the teacher candidates made sense of artifacts (e.g., articles, experiences, interactions) available to them in a state-mandated undergraduate foundational course on teaching ELs and the accompanying fieldwork. The study uses sociocultural theory to explore how the teacher candidates use course and fieldwork artifacts to learn about ELs and about teaching ELs. By gathering data from early in the course through the end of the course, this study is able to describe the perspective transformation experienced by most of the focal participants, providing evidence of increased empathy, more nuanced beliefs, and new strategies for differentiating instruction for ELs. Despite having differing backgrounds (e.g., their race, language(s), hometown, crosscultural and crosslinguistic experiences), differing goals (e.g., their college major, anticipated areas of certification, preferred teaching position, preferred region or school district, perceived likelihood that they would teach ELs in the future), and differing orientations toward ELs at the beginning of the course (e.g., positive, ambivalent), the preservice teachers identified many of the same artifacts as mediating changes in their development. These artifacts fall into the broad categories of ELs’ stories and experiences, repeated interactions with ELs, and opportunities for application. This study suggests, therefore, that the efficacy of such courses may increase with the inclusion of the following artifacts: (a) stories, simulations, and videos from ELs’ perspectives; (b) a fieldwork component in which teacher candidates actively engage with ELs; and (c) opportunities for teacher candidates to put their developing cognition into practice through course assignments and teaching in the field. Finally, this study makes suggestions for studying the long-term study of teacher candidates’ ongoing development.