I recently had a chapter published in a publication by the Canadian Association for Teacher Education (CATE).
Every two years, CATE holds a working conference for teacher educators, and this book was the result
of the 2015 conference that was held in Toronto. The book is available as a pdf, and it is
free. You can find the book here:
Here is the title and abstract for my chapter:
Preparing for Linguistic Diversity: Teacher Candidate
Reflections on an Elementary Education Course in Additional Language Teaching
and Learning
Teacher candidates in Canada encounter a rich range of
linguistic diversity in their school experiences. The goal of this qualitative
study was to examine, from the point of view of elementary teacher candidates,
the extent to which an additional language teaching and learning course
prepared them for their encounters with students from linguistically diverse
backgrounds. Data were gathered through an online open-ended questionnaire
exploring teacher candidates’ perspectives on the most and least beneficial
elements of the course, along with what they thought might be missing. Results
point to Canadian classrooms being home to a wide diversity of English language
learners. Participants also felt that instructional strategies, empathy,
confidence, and transferability were some of the benefits of a course in additional
language teaching and learning. However, they felt that it lacked enough time
with actual students and content related to culture, socioeconomic factors, and
immigration status. The findings underscore the necessity of addressing the
needs of English language learners from diverse linguistic backgrounds
throughout a teacher education program and the importance of having a
specialized course in additional language teaching and learning.
Douglas, S. (2016). Preparing for linguistic
diversity: Teacher candidate reflections on an elementary education course in
additional language teaching and learning. In M. Hirschkorn & J. Mueller
(Eds.), What should Canada's teachers
know? Teacher capacities: Knowledge, beliefs and skills (pp. 536-568).
Ottawa, ON: Canadian Association for Teacher Education. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-36OcipMmoPbTdia2hrN1F5RjQ/view
