Volume 15, Issue 1 -

Building upon the theory of teacher cognition, the purpose of this study was to discover how pre-service teachers envision learning English as English Language Learners (ELLs) and teaching English to ELLs. We examined metaphors of 98 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in their first literacy methods course in their preparatory program at one of two universities in the United States. We used metaphor analysis methodology to look at the participants’ metaphor writing samples. Overall results showed the pre-service teachers viewed learning English to be foremost a challenge and secondarily a worthwhile challenge. In contrast, the pre-service teachers viewed teaching English to be a worthwhile challenge, followed by a challenge and process. Throughout this paper we highlight our reflection and relate our findings to previous research. To be a responsive teacher educator begins by knowing our pre-service teachers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a bilingual education program would protect the cultural inheritance, linguistic knowledge, ethnic and religious identity of minority peoples. This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed method, conducted in two phases: a quantitative phase followed by a qualitative phase. Both quantitative and qualitative data reflected that a bilingual education program could increase the educational success of students and contribute to social justice including equal educational rights. Such as system might also increase brotherhood between different ethnic groups in society and perhaps resolve the conflicts among them. A bilingual education program for minority people is essential for equal access to education. It solves conflicts between different ethnic groups and brings happiness to the society.

Misconceptions, stereotypes, and deficit views of Mexican immigrants are pervasive in the current U.S. media. Such views are inconsistent with culturally responsive pedagogy, and teachers who hold them will be impeded in their abilities to teach Mexican immigrant children effectively (Nathenson-Mejia & Escamilla, 2003). Research supports the notion that many teachers become more culturally responsive as a result of reading multicultural children’s literature (Nieto, 2013). Few studies, however, have looked specifically at literature with Mexican immigration themes, and fewer still have been done specifically with undergraduate pre-service teachers or utilizing critical discourse methodology. In this study, four pre-service teachers read and discussed the children’s novel Return to Sender in an online discussion board over four weeks. Critical discourse analysis of changes in participants ways of representing, ways of interacting, and ways of being (Fairclough, 2003) over the four weeks indicated that some participants developed more empathetic views toward Mexican immigrants, while others did not. These differences seemed related to the stance (Rosenblatt, 1978) they adopted when approaching the text. These findings may inform teacher educators as they plan multicultural literature experiences that promote culturally responsive understandings of the experiences of Mexican immigrant and other children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Administrators, librarians, parents, teachers, and teacher educators need to be familiar with quality multicultural children's literature as a means of helping children develop an understanding of others as well as affirming their own diverse backgrounds. In this study, 31 fictional picture books identified as containing representations of ethnic Chinese or their culture were examined for literary quality and cultural authenticity. Six reviewers (three Chinese and 3 American) independently evaluated each book using a revised 10-item version of the Multicultural Children's Literature Evaluation Tool (Higgins, J. J. (2002). Multicultural children's literature: creating and applying an evaluation tool in response to the needs of urban educators. New Horizons in Education . Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/multicultural-education/multicultural-childrens-literature/index.html) with the highest possible score being 30. Results indicated good interrater reliability with the mean score of the Chinese and American reviewers differing by less than 5 points for 24 books (80 %). Three books received a mean score of 30 by at least one group of reviewers, and three books received a mean score of below 19 by at least one group of reviewers. With results of studies such as this one at their disposal, adults are better prepared to select quality, culturally authentic literature to share with children.

This article explores the role that teachers’ religious identities play in the classroom, particularly as they relate to understandings of race and equity. Employing an intersectional framework, I use interview data to examine how two Asian American teachers, who emphasize how important their Christian identities are to their lives and to their classroom practice, enact identity and pedagogy. Findings suggest that Christian teachers see teaching as an act of Christian service, that both faith and racial identities play roles in shaping culturally relevant pedagogy, and that teachers’ faith identities are integral to how they view themselves as individuals and as teachers.

Despite a recent increase in the number of studies examining diversity in a contemporary society in relation to gender/sexuality, family, culture, and bilingualism; no study has investigated the intersections of these four areas. The current study discusses the results of an empirical study that explored how discussions about books depicting same-sex parents help bilingual kindergarteners of Mexican descent understand gender non-conforming families, situating it within different theoretical perspectives including critical literacy and sociocultural perspectives. Based on qualitative data gained from a parent survey, teacher interviews, and classroom observations, the findings showed that discussions about books depicting non-heterosexual families provided the bilingual children in the focal classroom with a valuable opportunity to learn about family diversity and gender fluidity. This study offers implications for practitioners in early childhood and bilingual classrooms.

Upon the advocacy of the integration of English as a lingua franca, namely ELF, into English language teaching, some scholars (Hino & Oda, 2015) have focused on its possible implications for classroom settings. Implementing ELF-informed activities in an elementary level classroom within a norm-based educational setting, this study aimed to enable students to experience these activities, and explore their pre and post views regarding Standard English, the concepts of good English , and my English . In addition, it also investigated students’ preference for their educational setting after the implementation. The implementation took seven weeks and the activities were created by the researchers. Within a mixed method design, qualitative and quantitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews and two statement lists. The findings indicated that the majority of the students enjoyed the activities and their pre and post views regarding Standard English, good English and my English differ from each other. However, a substantial number of them preferred to be educated with Standard English in their language learning process. Findings also revealed that potential reasons behind this preference may be the domination of norm-based approach in their context, personal interests and prime objectives, and norm-based exams.