CABE 2015

This institute will address the sociopolitical and linguistic challenges and opportunities in establishing teacher preparation programs that effectively educate critically conscious dual language teachers. Dual language instructional programs have grown exponentially in the last five years. Despite the urgent need for additional dual language teacher preparation programs, few colleges of education provide the necessary preparation in the areas of native language methodology courses necessary to elevate the academic native language proficiency of bilingual teachers. Similarly, few preparation programs address the ideological and political dimensions of dual language instruction and the challenges inherent in teaching and working with subaltern communities and cultural groups. Finally, despite bilingual teacher education programs’ serious commitment to preparing dual language teachers to instruct in two languages, the reality is that teacher education programs typically do not provide their prospective teachers with the necessary sociolinguistic knowledge to prevent them from devaluing the nonstandard native languages that students bring to school. As a result, these programs unknowingly and uncritically perpetuate discriminatory hegemonic ideologies and practices that contaminate and undermine teacher preparation programs’ best efforts and intentions.