Preparing Every Teacher to Reach English Learners: A Practical Guide for Teacher Educators

2013 Outstanding Book Award, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)

Preparing Every Teacher to Reach English Learners presents a practical, flexible model for infusing English learner (EL) instruction into teacher education courses.

The editors outline the key steps involved in this approach—winning faculty support, assessing needs, and developing capacity—and share strategies for avoiding pitfalls. The central chapters feature sample courses illustrating how EL content can be incorporated into standard courses (human development, learning disabilities, and social foundations) and across subject areas and topics (math, science, social science, physical education, and classroom management).

Most preservice teacher candidates report that they feel unprepared to work with English learners. This practical, flexible model for infusing EL content into teacher education will provide an invaluable resource in shaping the next generation of teachers.

Joyce W. Nutta, PhD, is an associate professor and the ESOL/Foreign Language Education and TESOL PhD Track Coordinator of the College of Education at the University of Central Florida. She ventured into preparing pre-service teachers from all subject areas to reach ELs in 1997, since when she has applied pleasant persistence to engaging colleagues from a wide range of disciplines in the process of infusing EL content into their teacher preparation curricula. Extending these interpersonal collaborations to broader outreach, she founded and maintains the ESOL Tapestry (Training for All Pre-Service Educators Stressing Technology-based Resources) website and coedits The Tapestry Journal: An International Multidisciplinary Journal on English Learner Education, which is dedicated to the advancement of research and instruction for ELs. Her research focuses on the use of technology to teach second language learners and the integration of EL issues into teacher education curricula, which has been published in Foreign Language Annals, TESOL Journal, and CALICO Journal, among others. Prior to becoming a teacher educator, Joyce taught ESL and coordinated the adult ESL program of Pinellas County Schools, working closely with governmental and community-based agencies to support resettlement of refugee families.

Kouider Mokhtari, PhD, serves as the Anderson-Vukelja-Wright Endowed Professor of Education within the School of Education at UT-Tyler University, where he engages in research, teaching, and service initiatives aimed at enhancing teacher practice and student achievement. Kouider’s research focuses on the acquisition of language and literacy by first and second language learners, with particular emphasis on children, adolescents, and adults who can read but have difficulties understanding what they read. His research has been published in books and journals such as the Journal of Educational Psychology, the Canadian Modern Language Review, Journal of Research in Reading, and System: an International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics. Kouider currently serves as a member of the Language and Diversity Committee of the International Reading Association, whose work is focused on enhancing the education of English learners in all classrooms. He also serves as coeditor of Tapestry.

Carine Strebel, PhD, is an accreditation and program approval specialist in the College of Education at the University of Central Florida, where she also teaches graduate and undergraduate TESOL courses. She has conducted ESOL-focused professional development for teacher educators at several institutions, facilitates the infusion of EL content into initial certification courses, and is a regular guest speaker in educational leadership courses. Having previously taught French and German and provided online mentoring for practicing teachers around the world on the implementation of language learning technology, Carine’s research focuses on second language literacy, in particular the development of strategic competence, content-based language instruction aided by computer mediated communication and interactive whiteboard applications, and the preparation of all teachers to work with English learners. She is a founding member of The Tapestry Journal’s editorial board and continues to serve as assistant editor.