Core practices have been a vital focus in teacher education since about 2009, but so far, little research has been conducted on core practices for the teaching of English Language Learners (ELLs). Dr. Megan Madigan Peercy, an associate professor of applied linguistics and language education in the Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry (LLSI) program, has been working to fill this gap.
This April, Dr. Peercy begins to bring her research on this crucial subject to light at education conferences. She will present findings at the TESOL International Convention in Baltimore, following up with a presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Washington, D.C.
Though core practices are defined in various ways, education scholars agree on at least two characteristics: they are central to the work of teaching, and they are practices that novice teachers can learn to enact.
While earlier research in teacher education has often focused on lists of strategies, principles, and teacher dispositions, Dr. Peercy and her research team have been working with preservice and early-career teachers to identify and pilot the use of core practices that novice teachers of ELLs can practice while in their internships, thus entering their classrooms ready to enact them. For instance, to meet the objective of “adapting instruction to be linguistically responsive,” the researchers specify indicators that will help teachers tailor instruction to ELLs’ unique resources and instructional needs.
To pursue this ambitious research, Dr. Peercy put together a team including clinical assistant professor Dr. Daisy Fredricks (TESOL), doctoral students Megan DeStefano, Tabitha Kidwell, and Johanna Tigert, and TESOL master’s graduate Rebekah Ramirez. The team worked with three TESOL students: Andrew Mallory (DC Public Schools), Nancy Canales, and Christopher Wilhelm. They also recruited the participation of four early-career teachers who graduated from the College of Education with an M.Ed. in 2015: from Prince George’s County Public Schools, Tunisia Ellis, Stephanie Heard, and Erica Kraybill, and from Howard County Public Schools, Lisa Nam.
The TESOL 2016 International Convention and English Language Expo will take place on April 5 - 8 in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Peercy will present their work on core practices in two sessions, both held at the Hilton Baltimore.
In the first session, “Voices from the Field: Enacting Core Practices in TESOL” (Wednesday, April 6, 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.), Dr. Peercy will be joined by her entire team of researchers and classroom teachers. They will critically examine the ways in which the use of core practices for teaching ELLs creates challenges and opportunities for understanding and enacting practice in K-12 and university teacher education classrooms.
In the second TESOL session, entitled “Novice Teacher Growth: The Potential of Core Practices” (Thursday, April 7, 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.), doctoral student Tabitha Kidwell will discuss the team’s exploration of opportunities for growth during the internship experiences of novice teachers who have engaged in practice-based work in their preservice program.
Dr. Peercy will also contribute to three other events at the TESOL International Convention. In a session entitled “Preparing our Secondary ESOL Teachers: Insights from ELL Youth,” she will lay out a qualitative exploration of how fifteen ELL-designated high school students responded to the daily instructional practices of their ESOL teachers and teaching interns. In an invited collaborative session with AERA, she will explain her investigation of self-study, an increasingly prominent methodology for research in teacher education. And finally, she will be joined by colleagues from the College of Education, Drs. Rebecca Silverman and Melinda Martin-Beltran, as well as doctoral students Johanna Tigert and James Groff, who will lead an examination of a qualitative study of elementary school language learners’ use of translanguaging during cross-age peer learning interactions. The latter session arises from their research during the Reading Buddies project at Prince George’s County elementary schools (see the story in Endeavors, fall 2014, p. 10 - 11).
The 2016 AERA Annual Meeting will take place April 8 - 12 in Washington, D.C. Joined by her research team, Dr. Peercy will chair a panel about core practices for teaching ELLs. The symposium, entitled “Educating Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Learners: New Approaches to Practice in Teacher Education” (Sunday, April 10, 2:45 - 4:15 p.m.), will bring together researchers from several universities who are investigating critical questions related to the identification and enactment of these core practices. Other AERA sessions to which Dr. Peercy will contribute focus on her work on self-study and the Reading Buddies project.
Click here to access “Co-constructing practice in an online ESOL literacy methods course,” now in press with the journal Professional Development in Education, in which Dr. Peercy and her graduate researchers assess the online delivery of ELL core practices for teacher candidates.
Dr. Megan Madigan Peercy is an associate professor in the Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry (LLSI) program within the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership. Her research focuses on the preparation and development of teachers throughout their careers, as they work with language learners. Dr. Peercy’s recent work examines the theory-practice relationship in second language teacher education, teacher collaborative relationships and learning as they work with language learners, and teachers' academic language and literacy practices with language learners. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Utah.
Dr. Daisy Fredricks is a clinical assistant professor and the TESOL program coordinator in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership. Her research interests include the education of English Language Learners, preservice teacher education, language planning and policy, and qualitative research methods. Previously a classroom teacher in Michigan, Texas, and Arizona, she holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Arizona State University.
A former elementary ESOL teacher, Megan DeStefano is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Applied Linguistics and Language Education program. Her primary areas of research related to the teaching and learning of ELLs are cross-age peer learning, teacher collaboration, and novice teacher preparation.
Tabitha Kidwell is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Applied Linguistics and Language Education program. Her research interests are novice teacher education and teacher learning across the lifespan. She has taught in classrooms in the U.S., France, Madagascar, Peru, and Indonesia, and she holds an M.A. in Foreign and Second Language Education from the Ohio State University.
Johanna Tigert is a third-year doctoral candidate in the Applied Linguistics and Language Education program. Her research interests include heritage language education, novice ESOL teacher preparation, and the peer interaction of ELLs. A former elementary ESOL teacher, she holds master’s degrees in Russian and TESOL.
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