ABSTRACT

Greater numbers of English language learners (ELLs) are being taught in mainstream classrooms by teachers who have received no special preparation (Menken & Antunez, 2001; Strizek, Pittsonberger, Riordan, Lyter, & Orlofsky, 2006), yet pedagogical content related to teaching ELLs is too often absent from the teacher preparation curricula for early childhood, elementary, and secondary teachers. In many teacher preparation programs, second language learning issues are blended into an unwieldy multicultural course, taught by an instructor versed in the broadly conceived area of multicultural education, but not familiar with specific knowledge related to ELLs. Teacher candidates in such programs often have no access to substantive content involving language acquisition, and issues surrounding ELLs are submerged in a host of competing “diversity” themes. Too few teacher candidates are provided with direct experience of working with ELLs and sometimes when they do encounter ELLs in their pre-service field experiences they do not have the skills to differentiate instruction for them. Fortunately, in recent years, federal funding focusing on programs that target all teachers has enabled more teacher candidates to take coursework leading to bilingual and ESL endorsements and credentials. But the challenge of preparing teachers to serve ELLs is still great and it encompasses both pre-service (teacher candidates) and in-service (already certified practicing teachers) domains. Since their inception, bilingual programs within elementary schools have typically been isolated from the mainstream (Griego-Jones, 1995; Sakash & Rodriguez-Brown, 1995). The need for collaboration between ESL and mainstream teachers was highlighted over 20 years ago (Penfield, 1987). Bilingual/ ESL teachers1 and mainstream teachers, isolated from each other, often create different language learning environments for ELLs based on their perceptions of how best to serve the students. They sometimes fault each other for what ELLs have not yet learned. One of the keys to bridging the instructional gap at the in-service level is to break down communication barriers and facilitate conversation between mainstream and bilingual/ESL teachers. Collaboration that encourages teachers to share goals, experiences and responsibilities is central to the establishment of an optimal learning environment (Smylie, 1995).