“Porque sé los dos idiomas.” Biliteracy Beliefs and Bilingual Preservice Teacher Identity

Sustaining Bilingual–Biliterate Identities: Latinx Preservice Teachers’ Narrative Representations of Bilingualism and Biliteracy Across Time and Space

“…A burgeoning body of scholarship on teaching and teacher identity has shown that teacher identity and pedagogy is shaped by personal experience (Ceballos, 2012; Clark & Flores, 2001; Galindo, 2007; Monzó & Rueda, 2003; Musanti, 2014; Venegas-Weber, 2018). Particularly, for bilingual educators, experiences with language, schooling, and family often prove paramount in shaping both their views of students and their ideologies around language and pedagogy (Galindo, 2007; Musanti, 2014; Osterling & Webb, 2009).…”

“…A burgeoning body of scholarship on teaching and teacher identity has shown that teacher identity and pedagogy is shaped by personal experience (Ceballos, 2012; Clark & Flores, 2001; Galindo, 2007; Monzó & Rueda, 2003; Musanti, 2014; Venegas-Weber, 2018). Particularly, for bilingual educators, experiences with language, schooling, and family often prove paramount in shaping both their views of students and their ideologies around language and pedagogy (Galindo, 2007; Musanti, 2014; Osterling & Webb, 2009). In the case of Latina/o/x bilingual teachers, studies have documented how they agentively draw on their own experiences with bilingualism, including moments when they were marginalized or positioned as not proficient in Spanish or English, to support their emergent bilinguals in sustaining their bilingualism and biliteracy (Clark & Flores, 2001; Martínez et al, 2015; Urrieta, 2009; Venegas-Weber, 2018).…”

“…In addition to their educational experiences, geographic context has also been found to play a key role in how preservice and inservice Latina/o/x bilingual teachers conceptualize language, pedagogy, and what it means to be a teacher of reading and writing (Ceballos, 2012; Musanti, 2014; Smith & Murillo, 2013). Musanti (2014), for example, found that Latina/o/x bilingual preservice teachers’ conceptions about teaching and biliteracy development are context-embedded, in this case with students’ ideologies being formed by the geographic, sociocultural, linguistic, and educational context of the Texas–Mexico border.…”

“…In addition to their educational experiences, geographic context has also been found to play a key role in how preservice and inservice Latina/o/x bilingual teachers conceptualize language, pedagogy, and what it means to be a teacher of reading and writing (Ceballos, 2012; Musanti, 2014; Smith & Murillo, 2013). Musanti (2014), for example, found that Latina/o/x bilingual preservice teachers’ conceptions about teaching and biliteracy development are context-embedded, in this case with students’ ideologies being formed by the geographic, sociocultural, linguistic, and educational context of the Texas–Mexico border. Although participants reported viewing bilingualism and biliteracy as desirable traits, recognized and related to students’ funds of knowledge, and set high expectations for their emergent bilingual students, these teachers initially favored teaching reading and writing principally through decoding and saw discrete and isolated skills as the means to fix the “problem” that language presented.…”

“…Although participants reported viewing bilingualism and biliteracy as desirable traits, recognized and related to students’ funds of knowledge, and set high expectations for their emergent bilingual students, these teachers initially favored teaching reading and writing principally through decoding and saw discrete and isolated skills as the means to fix the “problem” that language presented. As a response to this issue, Musanti (2014) called on bilingual teacher preparation programs to provide more Spanish opportunities for preservice teachers and support them in developing more expansive views of language and literacy that can potentially build on students’ lived bilingual–biliterate realities.…”