ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to initiate a conversation about the roles of monolingual mainstream reading and language arts teachers related to the use of students’ native languages in multilingual and linguistically diverse classrooms and to consider the following questions:
What knowledge must monolingual teachers possess to work in linguistically diverse and multilingual public school classrooms?
How should students’ native languages in schools be viewed: as a “resource” or as a “liability”?
What are some unexamined misconceptions about monolingual educators teaching linguistically diverse students?
How might teachers foster their students’ native languages and literacies?
