Preparing Linguistically Responsive Teachers

It takes teachers many years to develop expertise in the complex set of knowledge, skills, and orientations needed to teach culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students well. The process begins in preservice preparation and continues into the early years of teaching and throughout a teacher’s career. This article examines preservice teacher education as the first phase in the continuum of teacher development for teaching ELLs. Drawing on our framework of orientations and pedagogical knowledge and skills for preparing linguistically responsive teachers (Lucas & Villegas, 2011; Lucas, Villegas, & Freedson-Gonzalez, 2008), we show how Feiman-Nemser’s (2001) framework of central tasks for learning to teach can serve as a guide for identifying tasks for learning to teach CLD students and for guiding the construction of a coherent approach to preparing teachers of CLD students that begins in preservice programs, laying the foundation for continued development throughout the teaching career.