Abstract Book of the 9th International Conference on Research in Education
Year: 2025
DOI:
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Emphasizing Sociocultural Competence in Multilingual Learner Teacher Training
Dr. Kerri Ray Valencia
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this research was to uncover how I became a language teacher who teaches through a lens of sociocultural competence (SCC) and the effects of explicit SCC teacher training for teachers of multilingual learners (MLLs). I researched my journey to becoming an educator of MLLs who embeds critical consciousness, social justice, and equity in my teaching practice. I uncovered how teacher training and job-embedded coaching have influenced teachers, students, and other stakeholders in multilingual communities. I surveyed and interviewed 24 former teacher candidates who were enrolled in a course I presented in the Moreland University TEACH-NOW Graduate School of Education teacher preparation and Teaching Multilingual
Learners master’s programs, and 5 former colleagues from Montgomery County Public Schools Two-Way Immersion program in Maryland. The research methodology included an autoethnographic study of my path to teaching through a lens of SCC and interviews and surveys with the participants, who were located in 12 countries. The study shows how classrooms are transformed when teachers of multilingual learners learn through targeted training on how to teach through a lens of SCC. The three key outcomes are (a) teaching teachers how to reflect on the curriculum, (b) teaching teachers how to adapt and modify the curriculum to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students, and (c) the critical role of ongoing professional development on how to teach MLLs through a lens of SCC. When these three areas are developed, classrooms become equitable spaces that elevate marginalized voices and chip away at the English dominance, White supremacy culture, and oppressive educational systems that exist worldwide.
keywords: sociocultural competence, translanguaging, multilingual learners, content and language objectives, professional development