Preparing Pre-Service Content Area Teachers Through Translanguaging

ABSTRACT In response to the multilingual and multicultural realities in U.S. classrooms, it is important to prepare all teachers who understand translanguaging and are capable of implementing it across contexts. This exploratory qualitative study investigates how five pre-service content area teachers grappled with translanguaging in a graduate-level teacher education course which was designed from a translanguaging perspective. Data sources include teachers’ written coursework and exit interviews, and class observations. Using an inductive coding approach, we found that our content area teacher candidates developed a dynamic, holistic view to understand bilinguals’ meaning-making practices. They also perceived students’ home languages as a valuable resource that needs to be incorporated in general education classrooms to boost emergent bilinguals’ academic learning and socioemotional well-being. In addition, all five participating teachers employed a variety of translanguaging strategies (e.g., grouping based on home languages and providing translations) in their content area lesson plans.