Abstract

The role of teacher educators is vital to education, but when the population of public-school students shifts, or progress and advances in knowledge of the field or knowledge for teaching emerge, teacher education faces challenges. One such challenge involves a continuing increase in the proportion of second language learners entering primary and secondary schools, English learners (ELs) in this case. In such situations, teacher educators often do not have deep knowledge of second language acquisition or how to integrate attention to ELs within their regular courses. One response to this challenge is to provide professional development (PD) for teacher education faculty. This qualitative study explored how faculty responded to a PD focused on developing understandings of second language acquisition with opportunity to consider how it might be taken up in their own teaching of teachers. We interviewed eight teacher education faculty members about their learning and their response to participating in this PD effort. Using data analysis methods specified by Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014), we gained a better understanding of how faculty responded to the PD in general and how it contributed to their positioning as participants within the PD. The importance of this study is that it can help professional development coordinators and facilitators understand the importance of positioning or orientation of participants as they begin a learning experience. Future research could examine ways in which learning opportunities can be designed to take into account the variability in these orientations.

Degree

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Instructional Psychology and Technology

Rights

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