Multilingualism in Social Studies Classrooms: A Multiple Case Study Investigating Pre-service Teachers’ Ideology and Praxis

Abstract

This study explored how pre-service social studies teachers describe their work with multilingual students in the process of developing students’ social studies conceptual understanding. Key components of the theoretical framework included language ideology (Ruiz, 1984), translanguaging (Kleyn & García, 2019), and concept-based learning (Erickson, 2002). Comprised of multiple case studies (Yin, 2009), this study consisted of a series of semi-structured interviews with three different participants as they planned, delivered, and reflected on lessons during their student teaching placements in public middle and high schools in a large urban center in the Midwest. Findings from the case studies illustrated the importance of pre-service teacher personal experience, pre-existing ideologies, and the role of mentor teachers in pre-service teachers’ instructional practice. Pre-service teachers’ praxis evolved and changed with respect to how they fostered multilingual learning in social studies classrooms. Implications of this research inquiry extend into teacher education for pre-service social studies teachers. This study demonstrated the importance of focusing on multilingual students in social studies classrooms and the ways pre-service teachers are being supported to focus on multilingual learners.