Preparing Teachers to Work with Multilingual Learners

This collection examines a diverse range of approaches to multilingualism in teacher education programmes across Europe and North America. The authors investigate how pre-service teachers are being prepared to work in multilingual contexts and discuss the key features of current pre-service teacher education initiatives that address the increasing linguistic and cultural diversity evident in classrooms in their respective countries. The focus is not only on migrant-background learners but includes students from Indigenous, autochthonous and heritage language backgrounds, and speakers of minoritised regional varieties. The chapters contextualise, both historically and ideologically, the specific initiatives and measures taken in the participating countries. They also reveal the complexity of each educational context and the role that history, language policies and institutional and programmatic priorities play in the development and implementation of a multilingual focus in teacher education. In exploring how pre-service teachers are being prepared to work in multilingual contexts, the authors take a critical view of how multilingualism itself is conceptualised within and across contexts. The book highlights the valuable impact that explicit instruction on theories of multilingualism, pedagogies in multilingual classrooms and lived realities of multilingual children can have on the beliefs and practices of pre-service teachers.

This collection makes a useful contribution to the growing research base on teacher education for multilingual learners in linguistically diverse contexts. The international scope of the volume allows for richer – and more historically informed – definitions of multilingualism, and provides insightful comparative analysis of how teacher-education policies and curricula interact in shaping the preparation of future teachers to support multilingual learners., This book is a long awaited deeper look into the ways teacher education responds to the multilingual reality of today's classrooms. The selection of countries elucidates the vital importance of understanding multilingualism in the context of each country's institutional structures and sociopolitical processes. It will help to push forward the agenda in many other countries' teacher education as well!, This much-needed volume deepens our understanding of the commonalities and complexities of preparing teachers to address linguistic and cultural diversity. The authors from nine countries have forged an international alliance that accounts for the unique historical context of each setting. This important work sets the stage for future research on the equitable education of multilingual learners across their nations and around the world., The studies [in this book] uncover that more effort is needed to develop knowledge, skills, experiences, and awareness in the teacher candidates to teach CLD students. One of the contributions of this volume for those who are interested in multilingual education is that it reports how pre-service teachers are prepared in Europe and North America to teach multilingual learners. The chapters also unveil that the education policies and practices are informed by monolingual ideology and focus on developing literacy skills and content knowledge in the official and/or English language., This volume is an important contribution to the research on multilingualism and teacher education [It] is essential reading for students of applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, sociology, psychology, language acquisition and education, researchers, practitioners, teachers, educators, and members of the general public who would like to know more about the recent developments in the areas of multilingualism and teacher education.

Meike Wernicke is Assistant Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada, with a research focus in French second language teacher education, professional development and teacher identity. Her research also includes an interest in intercultural education, multilingual pedagogies, language policy, and decolonizing approaches in language education.Svenja Hammer is Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute for Multilingualism, Language Development and Language Education at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. She is engaged in several teacher preparation courses at her university and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, as well as in the International Consortium for Multilingual Excellence in Education project.Antje Hansen is Research Assistant at the Coordination Office for Multilingualism and Language Education at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Her research interests focus on multilingualism and language education in Germany, heritage language education, factors of successful multilingualism and transfer of research results into practice.Tobias Schroedler is Junior Professor of Multilingualism and Social Inclusion at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He has published on different aspects of multilingualism and his research interests include multilingualism in teacher education, institutional multilingualism, language education and language economics.