WHAT SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE MUST TEACHERS OF LANGUAGE MINORITY STUDENTS POSSESS?

Recent research allows teacher educators to readily generate a list of teacher competencies (Anderson, 1991; Center for Applied Linguistics, 1976; Clark, 1990; Faltis, in press; Floden, 1991; Garcia, 1992; Moll et al., 1990; RMC Research Corporation, 1981; and Thonis, 1991). This list suggests a set of fundamental skills, knowledge, and attitudes that all teachers working with language minority students (including mainstream teachers) should possess:

1. an awareness of the kinds of special instructional services that second language learners experience at different stages of participation in bilingual and ESL programs (Faltis, in press);

2. the ability to work collaboratively in teams that include specialists and non-specialists in bilingual and ESL programs;

3. an understanding of how classroom settings (both social and physical) can be arranged to support a variety of instructional strategies (Faltis, in press);

4. an understanding of second language acquisition principles and how these can be incorporated into learning activities that require two-way communicative exchanges between teachers and students as well as between students (Faltis, in press);

5. an understanding of "how pupils use their existing knowledge to make sense of what is going on in their classroom....and aware[ness] of ways in which pupils might misunderstand content that seems clear (even obvious) to the teacher" (Floden, 1991, p. 201);

6. the ability to draw parents of bilingual learners into classroom-related activities and to tap into the "funds of knowledge" which parents and community members can contribute to enhancing the instruction of language minority children (Moll et al., 1990);

7. the ability to deliver an instructional program that provides "abundant and diverse opportunities for speaking, listening, reading, and writing along with scaffolding to help guide students through the learning process" (Garcia, 1992, pp. 79-80);

8. the ability "and disposition to create and to bring students into classroom dialogue' (Anderson, 1991, p. 216);

9. the ability to "assess dynamically the initial `ability' of individuals and groups so that instruction may be aimed above (but not too far above) that level" (Anderson, 1991, p.216); and

10. a disposition "to be tolerant of responses that are divergent from the teacher's point of view" (Anderson, 1991, p. 216) and to incorporate the culture of language minority children into the curriculum. .

 

Recommendations for Staff Development

1. Staff development at the school district level should address the teacher shortage through a coordinated effort which includes collaboration among school districts, state and county educational service centers, universities and colleges, professional organizations, and state credentialing boards (Gold,1992). Innovative programs, such as fully developed alternate routes to certification or career ladder programs for paraprofessionals through community colleges and four-year institutions should be designed and implemented. Short-cut routes which produce ill-prepared classroom teachers should be avoided as the long-term consequences for language minority students can be extremely damaging.

2. Staff development must involve more than addressing a discrete set of competencies. It means engaging teachers in a process wherein they see themselves as learners involved in discovering how their students learn and reflecting on how they can create optimal environments for all of their students in the classroom. In order to accomplish this, we must "say goodbye to quick-fix workshops and hello to staff development that provides intellectual stimulation and opportunities to develop new knowledge and skills" (Goldenberg & Gallimore, 1991, p. 69).

3. Change will only occur if teachers themselves change what they are doing in the classroom. For this cycle of change to be initiated, practitioners need to become engaged in a process of "reflective practice." This can occur through formation of "problem-solving teams" or teachers' "learning communities" that generate change among fellow teachers, not just at a given grade level, but within an entire school campus and, eventually, beyond the school site (Lucas, 1992).

4. Local districts should "offer mainstream classroom teachers a wide array of staff development activities which revolve around the education of PEP (potentially English proficient) students" (Hamayan, 1990, p. 18). Specific strategies must be created to break down artificial barriers between bilingual/ESL and mainstream teachers that work against developing a whole-school response to meeting the needs of language minority students.

5. Staff development should intensify program coordination and monitoring activities at the school and district level to ensure quality (e.g., adequate spending for materials and retention of good teachers in programs designed for language minority students), and to increase the level of implementation (i.e., to decrease the gap between what is publicly proclaimed to be happening and what actually occurs) for bilingual programs (Quezada, 1992, p. 26).

6. State education agencies can contribute greatly by providing on- going technical assistance and maintaining thorough, sustained compliance efforts. The challenge for teacher educators is clear: we must practice what we preach in university teacher education and district staff development programs. Beyond the classroom, we must model the creation of meaningful, interlocking support networks, not only within institutional systems, but also across artificial barriers (such as school/university or school/community) in order for the dramatic changes so badly needed in our schools to become reality.