Teachers as the nexus of theory and practice with multilingual learners: A teacher's journey of becoming

Abstract

In the U.S., the growing population of multilingual learners of English requires that general education teachers develop specialized knowledge and practices to educate these students. However, research on developing rich and equity-minded practices among non-specialist teachers working with multilingual learners remains relatively limited. Even less is understood about how professional learning approaches can assist general education teachers in applying learning theories to benefit multilingual learners. Drawing on evidence from a broader five-year study of professional learning, this qualitative paper examines the dialogic relationship between research and practice across three programs: pedagogical coaching, English language specialist certification, and a nine-credit leadership academy for in-service elementary teachers. Explicitly grounded in critical sociocultural theoretical perspectives, the programs provided teachers with a theory-to-practice toolbox for creating affirming and inclusive classrooms for all/multilingual students. To study the research-practice nexus, we utilized narrative thematic analysis on a coaching conversation and two interviews recorded at three points during one teacher's participation in various professional learning activities. We present the narrative of her growth as a dramatic arc of development, portraying the teacher herself as the nexus of theory and practice, highlighting her transformation into a teacher of multilingual learners, advocate, and critical change agent. The findings illustrate language education research and practice conducted within a longitudinally reciprocal ecology of becoming.