It's Just a Hot Mess

Supporting Teacher Praxis to Challenge Barriers for Multilingual Learners

Bibliographic Data

ID7167167
AuthorsEmily Reigh (0000-0003-0922-3537, Department of Education University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz California USA, corresponding author), Emily Adah Miller (0000-0003-3473-5729, Mary Frances Early College of Education University of Georgia Athens Georgia USA), Ayça K Fackler (0000-0002-8116-4888, College of Education and Human Development University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA), Maria Chiara Simani (0009-0004-2241-8536, College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences University of California, Riverside Riverside California USA)
Year2025
Volume109
Issue4
Pages1022-1047
Publication date2025-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-8326 • E-ISSN: 1098-237X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sce.21917
OpenAlexW4404205789
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited111

This paper examines a professional learning (PL) program for upper elementary teachers focused on developing instructional practices to support multilingual learners (MLLs) in science. The PL sought to support teachers' praxis, which we describe as their sense of agency to critically analyze and take action against barriers to MLLs’ opportunities to learn. We analyzed pre‐PL interviews with teachers to identify the ways that they framed MLLs from asset‐ and deficit‐based perspectives and the barriers that they identified that undermine MLLs' science learning. Then, we analyzed the extent to which the teachers' participation in the PL shifted their framing of MLLs and fostered their sense of agency to challenge the barriers faced by MLLs. We found that teachers shifted toward more asset‐based views of students' existing language resources and deepened their sense of agency to employ scaffolds that engage these resources in their own instructional practice. However, teachers continued to surface barriers in their organizational contexts, including the emphasis placed on standardized language assessments and the misalignment between English language instruction and science learning. Our analysis shows that the PL did not adequately support teachers in navigating these particular institutional barriers. Based on our analysis, we argue that teachers and science education researchers should expand their focus beyond teachers’ instructional practices and work together to remove barriers for MLLs in the larger organizational systems of schooling

Epistemology · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Praxis · Sociology · Teacher education · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching

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Open DOIOpen Access