In this chapter, the authors present a synthesis of the small, but growing, body of literature examining what some teacher educators are already doing and what all teacher educators need to do to prepare mainstream classroom teachers to teach English language learners (ELLs). While the discussion applies to teachers of immigrant and refugee…

In order to contribute to efforts of teacher educators, policymakers, and researchers to better prepare mainstream secondary teachers for current and former English language learners (ELLs), this chapter explores recent literature addressing: (1) what teachers need to know about language in general and "academic language" in particular to meet the…

Educational policies for English language learners (ELLs) tend to focus on English language acquisition. In this chapter, the authors argue that educators need to give more attention to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy to draw upon the tremendous intellectual, linguistic, and cultural resources that bilingual children bring to the…

Studies of teacher quality have tended to either ignore or underplay the importance of teachers' competence in teaching academic language and literacies (AL) to all learners, but especially English language learners (ELLs). One critical issue is that the construct of AL is still a subject of intense debate among scholars. Therefore, teachers must…

Over the last several years, calls have been made for the inclusion of multimodal forms of literacy in classrooms (Bamford, 2007), where multimodal can be defined as referring to texts that combine more than one medium (e.g., textual and visual). As adolescents are increasingly interested in visual and hypertextual modes, research has placed the…

The goal of this chapter is to provide a conceptual review of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and a synthesis of research that documents its application to immigrant children and English language learners (ELLs). First, the significance and relevance of CRP are framed in the context of today's student population and the growing gaps in academic…

Scholars have argued for collaborative parent involvement programs for minority students and English language learners' (ELLs) families to improve their academic success. Despite the trend toward collaboration, students' home languages and culture continue to be seen as a liability in the learning process; this sentiment has created a backlash…

The high-stakes testing climate and the growing immigrant and English language-learning population have changed the face of teaching and learning in today's high schools. In this chapter, the authors emphasize the impact of a new paradigm of schooling based on high-stakes testing on Asian and Latin American students, as they represent the largest…

The Sunnyside Independent School District Board of Education selected Dr. Juan Martinez (pseudonym) as its new superintendent of schools by an unusually cohesive 7-0 vote in 2002. In describing the superintendent search, the local paper characterized the board as highly politicized and often divisive. So the board's unanimity in appointing Juan to…

"Brown v. Board of Education" reminds this author, a linguist, of the linguistic diversity among black Americans, be they descendants of enslaved Africans--as he is proud to be--or Africans who escaped slavery. There is as much linguistic diversity among their race as among any other racial or ethnic group in the United States. When the Supreme…

For scholars of literacy and educational linguistics, the years 2004 and beyond have given them cause to not only revisit racial issues 50 years after "Brown v. Board of Education," but also to revisit 25 years of language and racial politics since "the Martin Luther King Black English case." This chapter discusses what needs to happen now--with…

According to Frankenberg, Lee, and Orfield, segregation for black students declined substantially after the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision, "Brown v. Board of Education," reaching its lowest point 30 years later. By comparison, Latino students have experienced "steadily rising segregation since the 1960s." Unlike black students who have…

This chapter attempts to begin a conversation about how so many of people in the educational and academic communities have come to believe that educational equity could be mediated by legal measures and federal and local reforms without transformation of the historical practices and ideologies that preserve supremacy and "White innocence"--a…

This chapter presents the author's response to Bernard Gifford and Guadalupe Valdes's article "The Linguistic Isolation of Hispanic Students in California's Public Schools: The Challenge of Reintegration." In their article, Gifford and Valdes consult the historical record concerning English-speaking Anglo contact with Spanish-speaking…

This chapter argues that a detailed, grounded understanding of classroom literacy practices as well as of learners' writing is crucial to begin to change the ongoing and patently unequal educational outcomes that schools often produce. It is impossible to intervene realistically and effectively in an evidential vacuum. The 1955 "Brown v. Board of…