UniversityModelsfor ESLand Bilingual
TeacherTraining
VirginiaP. Collier
Many areasof stimulatingresearchon the educationof minority languagestudentsare bringingnew awarenessand maturityto the field.We
heard today of exciting new theoriesand researchfindingsin first and
secondlanguageacquisition;of languageand culture,and cognitionand
the content areas;and of a deeper understandingof the complexity of
assessment
issues.Institutionsof higher education(lHEs)play a key role
in the stimulationof this researchthroughsupportof facultyand doctoral
students,throughdissemination
of researchfindings,and ideallythrough
an applicationof theory to practicein which researchfacultywork with
teachertraineesand local schoolsto arrangecooperativeventureswith
universities.
This key role of IHEspointsto the first obviousimplicationof the findings presentedin other papers at this conference.Since most of this
researchemergedout of a universitycontextwith university(or perhaps
federalgovernmentor private foundation)support,thesefindingsshottld
hopefullyfind their way back to teacherpreparationprogramswhere students and faculty can study, analyze, and apply the knowledge appropriately in classrooms.Do these researchfindings in our field get
disseminated
for useat the classroomlevel?What is happeningin university bilingualand Englishas a secondlanguage(ESL)teachertrainingto
help stimulatethis growth?
To begin to addressthis question,I conductedan extensiveliterature
review of sourceson teachertrainingin ESLand bilingualeducation(BE)
Justsince1980over 250 articlesand chaptersin bookshavebeenwritten
addressingsome aspectsof bilingual/ESLteachertraining.Many important topicsemergedas growing areasof concernfor IHE faculty.Due to
the brevity of this paper,discussion
will be limited to the following:
Bilingualand ESLteacherresources
teachercompetencies,
and the IHE
BE and ESLstatecertification,
curriculum
81
Currentnew curriculartrendsandinfluences
of BE/ESLon qeneral
teachereducation
o Assessment
of teachers.
BEIESL Teacher Resources
A brief look at statisticalestimatesshowsthat the needs
in our field are
staggering.For severalyears now there has been
a national shortageof
teachersin bilingualeducation,specialeducation,
math, and science.Of
the 3'6 million limited-English-proficient
(LEP)students(ages4-1g) identified in the 1978children'sEngrishand services
study(waggonerr9g3),
only 30 percentwere beingservedthroughbilingual
anoZoi gSL instruction (Bell 1982).The rest were in sink-or-swim(zubmersion)
mainstream
classes.
The 1980-82TeachersLanguageSkillsSurvey identified
the need for
100,000bilingual teachersif bilingual programs are implemented
in
schoolsin which LEP studentsfrom one languagebackground
are sufficientlyconcentratedto make suchprogramsleasible.
In l9g2 there were
an estimated27,000 to 32,000trained bilingualteachers,
thus leaving
68,000to 73,000yet to be trained.Sincetos iHEs currentlygraduate
approximately2,000to 2,600trainedbilingualteachers
each y"u, (Blatchford 1982),we have a rong way to go. The TeachersLanguage
skiils
Surveyalso identified103,000teacherswho were assigned
to teach ESL
but of whom only 40 percent had receivedany training
in methodsof
teaching ESL. It was estimatedthat at least 350,000
teachersneed
specializedESL training(o'Malreyr9g3; o'Mailey and
waggoner rgg4).
BE and ESL State certification, Teacher competencies,
and the IHE Curriculum
As stateshave becomeincreasinglyaware of the need
for bilingualand
ESLteachers,throughsuchfactorsas federalgovernment
influence,court
decisions,or pressuresof locar minority laiguage
communities,states
havepassedlegislationdescribingprovisionsfor
the schoolingof LEp students and have developedaccompanyingstate
certificationand/or endorsementrequirementsfor bilingualanJ ESL
teachers.As of rgg4,22
stateshad developedbilingualteacher certification,
23 had developed
ESL teacher certification,while another r0
were in the process of
development.only r4 stateshad not begun the process
of deveropment
of eitherESLor bilingualteachercertificalion(National
Clearinghouse
for
B i l i n g u aE
l clucatio1
n984).
C e r t i f i c a t i o trre q u i r e n r c r r rVso r ! f r o m s t a t e t c - r
s t a t e ,a n c l l f l E s m u s t
designtheir curriculumin the teachertrainingprogram
ro rneetstatere-
quirementsas a priority. Frequently IHE faculty are involved in the
developmentof staterequirements.
I found no lessthan 40 publishedlists
of variouscompetencies
for bilingualand ESLteachers.Someare published by individualfacultymembersto disseminate
informationabouta particular IHE program. Some authors attempt to define competencies
through bilingual teacher effectivenessstudies(Clark and Milk 1983;
Rodriguez1980).
Probablythe most widely disseminated
listsare the Centerfor Applied
Linguistics(CAL)guidelinesfor bilingualteachercertification(CAL 1974);
the Teachers of English to Speakersof Other Languages(IESOL)
guidelinesfor ESLteachercertificationIESOL 1975);and the Acostaand
Blanco (1978)competenciesfor universityprogramsin bilingualeducation. All three of thesewere draftedby severalauthorsand underwenta
review process.The NationalAssociationof StateDirectorsof Teacher
developedstandardsfor bilingual
E,ducation
and Certification(NASDTEC)
and ESL teachersthat were revisedin 1984and were designedto be a
general model for state certification,based.on the CAL' and TESOL
guidelines.Table 1 (seepage 84) presentsan abbreviatedversionof the
NASDTECcompetency guidelinesalong with suggestedcoursesthat
might be offeredat a universityto meet each competency.
are someimMissingfrom theseNASDTECspecialization
competencies
portant areas,such as curriculum developmentin BE and ESL,assessment of minority languagestudents,and methodsof teachingcontent
areas bilingually.All of these would be covered by generaleducation
coursesrequiredof all teachers,but NASDTECstandardsdo not require
coursesin these
that bilingualand ESL teachersreceive specialization
areas.
Here the dilemma beginsfor designingappropriateIHE curriculafor
The more universityfaculty actively supervisefield
the specializations.
experiencesand student teaching,the greater the perceivedneed for
more specializedcoursesto adequatelyprepare teachersto face the
specialneedsof students(Mohattand Erickson1981;Riveraand Simich
1982;Jacobson1983).Equally strong pressurefor specializedcourses
comesfrom the growing knowledgebasegeneratedby researchfindings
on the schoolingof minority languagestudents(findingsthat need to be
communicatedto teachersin training).Yet, just as in specialeducation,a
proliferationof coursescontinuesto be added to our specialization
endorsement.While we are discussingincreasingcoursework for our
general teacher educationis getting heavy pressureto
specialization,
shortenthe processand providealternateroutesto certification,such as
the 200 hour (equalto four courses)preparation,plus one year of supervised teaching now being experimentedwith in New Jersey.This is
minimal comparedto most teacher educationprograms.
Table I
NASDTECCertification Standards (abbreviated)*
ContentStandardin Bilingual/
Multiculturol Education (B/M ED)
PossibleIHE Course
Offerings
1 . P ro fi ci e n cyi n L , a n d Lr ,
fo r e ffe cti vete a ch i n g
2 . Kn o w l e d g eo f h i sto rya nd
culturesof L, and L, speakers
For eignlanguageand English
depar tmentcour ses.
Cr oss- culturstudies,
al
m ulticultur aleducation( ME) ,
histor yand civilization,
liter atur e,ethnic studies
Foundations
of BE ( or
intr oductionto BE)
and
3 . H i sto ri ca lp, h i l o so p h i c al,
legal basesfor B/M ED and
related research
4 . Org a n i za ti o n amo
l d e l sfor
pro g ra msa n d cl a ssro oms
in B/M
ED
5 . L , me th o d so f te a ch i n g
(includingESL methodology)
6 . C o mmu n i ca ti ow
n i th students,
p a re n ts,a n d o th e rsi n cultur ally
an d l i n g u i sti ca l ldyi ffe r ent
co mmu n i ti e s
7 . D i ffe re n cebse tw e e nL , and
Lr; l a n g u a g ea n d d i a l e ct
di ffe re n ceas cro ssg e o gr aphic
r e g i o n s,e th n i cg ro u p s,social
le ve l s
Foundations
of BE
Methodsof teachinqa second
language
studies.ME.
Cross-cultural
r elations
school/com m unity
bilingualism
Sociolinguistics,
ContentStandordsin'English
for Speakersof Other Longuoges
1 . N a tu reo f l a n g u a g el,a nguage
va ri e ti e s,stru ctu reo f E nglish
language
PossibleIHE Courses
Offerings
2 . De mo n stra tepdro fi ci e ncyin
spoken and written English
3 . De mo n stra tepdro fi ci e ncyin
a se co n dl a n g u a g e
4 . L, a n d L , a cq u i si ti o n
p rocess
Englishdepar tm entcour ses
5. Effectsof socio-cultural
variables
on languagelearning
6. Languageassessment,
program
de ve l o p me n t,
i mp l e mentation,
and evaluation
English
Gener allinguistics;
phonology,mor phology,and
syntax
'
For eignlanguagecour ses
Languageacquisition
Languageacquisition,
M E,
cross-cultural
studies,
sociolinguistics
pr ogr am
Languageassessment,
development,and evaluation
*Theseare supplementalstandardsto the NASDTECpr ofessionai
educa tion standardsrequiredof all teachers( NASDTEC1984) .
New IHE Curricular Trends in BE/ESL
A Part C study of bilingual educationteachertraining programsfound
that state BE certificationstandardsplayed a major role in determining
the IHE curriculum for bilingualstaff, with required coursesmainly in
culture,linguistics,and generalissuesin BE (RMCResearchCorporation
1984).The NASDTECstandardsalsoaddressissuesin linguistics,
culture,
and generalissuesin BE and program development.We have already
added curriculum development,assessment,
and methods of teaching
contentareasbilineuallyto the NASDTEClist.To keep up with the latest
trends,additionalspecializations
within our field are growing rapidlybilingualspecialeducation,computer-assisted
instruction(CAI) in bilingual/ESLsettings,and bilingualvocationaleducation.Many teachersbeing certifiedfor working in K-12publicschoolsettingsneedat leastan introductionto CAI and to some of the issuesinvolvedin bilingualspecial
education.
Many teacher training programsare designedfor bilingualand ESL
teachers to receive different degrees,yet much of the coursework
overlaps,and bilingualand ESLstaffcan benefitmost from an integrated
approachto training(Collier1985).Figure I illustratesan idealizedmodel
that I would proposefor an integratedbilingual/ESLteacherpreparation
program.Table 2 (seepage 86) presentssamplecoursesin an integrated
training program for bilingualeducation/ESLteachers,incorporatingall
of the curricularareasdescribedpreviously.The integrationof bilingual
and ESLteachertrainingis a major theme in a new textbookby Ovando
a n d C o l l i e r( 1 9 8 5 ) .
Figure I
Integrating Bilingual and ESL Teacher Training
Bilingual/ESL
TeacherPreparation
E n g l i sh
D e p t.
Foreign
Language
Dept.
Education
Dept.
Table 2
Sample Courses in an Integrated
Bilingual/Esl Teacher Preparation Program
First and secondlanguageacquisitionand bilingualism
Teachingnative languagearts
Methodsof teachinga secondlanguage(e.g.,ESL,SSL,VSL)
M e t h o d so f te a ch i n gco n te ntar eas,both bilinguallyand thr oughthe second
language
M u l ti cu l tu rael d u ca ti o ni ,n cludingteachingthe cultur allyand linguistically
di fferent exceptionalchild
Program models, policy, school-communityrelations, and administrative
issuesin bilingualeducationand ESL
The phonology,morphology,and syntax of English
T h e p h o n o l o g y,mo rp h o l o gy,and syntaxof anotherlanguage,in additionto
English(for bilingualteachers)
Assessment
in bilingual/ESLsettings
Curriculumdevelopmentin bilingual/ESLsettings
Readingand researchin foundationsof education(anthropology,sociology,
history,philosophy,psychology,socialpsychologyrelatedto the educationof
minority languagestudents)
Use of instructionaltechnologyfor teachingfirst and secondlanguagesand
contentareas
Now we are back to our dilemma.Ideally,in this integrated
program
bilingual/ESlprofessors
who teach the coursescome from multiple
specializations
and are active researchers,
keepingup with the latest
research
findingson the schooling
of minoritylanguage
students.
Yet we
havecreateda specialization
that is verv separatefrom that requiredof
mainstreamteachers,many of whom alsowork with minority language
students.
Theseteachersalsoneedexposureto issuesand methodsof
workingwith specialpopulations.
The bilingual/multicultural
facultyat a universitymustfind waysto infuse the mainstreamteacherpreparationcurriculumwith elementsof
bilingual/multicultural/ESL
training.Somepossiblealternatives
are minicourse modulestaught by the bilingual/multicultural/ESL
faculty in
generalteachereducationcoursesand the creationof new required
coursesin the mainstream
teacherpreparationprogramto meetNational
Councilfor Accreditation
of TeacherEducation(NCATE)requirements
in
multiculturaleducationand specialeducation.Studentswith other lan-
guagebackgrounds
in bilingualeducationalsoaddimportant
specializing
multilingual/multicultural
contentto mainstreamcoursesthroughtheir
The PartC study
groupprojects,andseminars.
participation
in discussion,
Corporation1984)
of bilingualteachertrainingprograms(RMCResearch
in BE have
foundthat the majorityof IHE programswith specialization
at the bachelors
one-thirdof the courseworkdevotedto the specialization
level and two-thirdsat the masterslevel.
Assessment of Teachers
and IHE curriculadesigned
BE/ESLteachercompetencies
Established
are not completewithout appropriateassessto meet thesecompetencies
practicesfor IHE teacher
ment. No entry/exit criteria and assessment
training programshave been proposedat the federallevel, but various
states(e.g.California,Illinois)have taken initial stepsto analyzecomplex
issuesin this importantarea.
For general teacher certification,the NationalTeacher Examination
(NTE)is increasinglybeingusedas a measureof teachers'skillsin general
and professionalknowledge and in the content areas. For bilingual
assumessomemeasureof proteachers,the additionof the specialization
and knowledgeand awarenessof at leasttwo
ficiencyin two languages,
cultures.In this paperI only have spaceto addressvery briefly a few language assessmentissues.
Many IHEs assumethat generaluniversityentrancerequirementsare
as a measureof sufficientEnglishproficiency(e.g.the TOEFL,
satisfactory
SAT,TSWE)for studentsenteringthe teacherpreparationprogram.If studentsare provisionallyadmittedwith a lower scoreon one of thesetests,
they are generally given remedial help through specializedESL or
English department courses,or from tutorial centers. For second language entrance assessment,bilingual program faculty usually require
some combination of a commercial or noncommercial instrument
(sometimesadministeredby the foreign languagedepartment),an informal interview, or classroomobservation(Seidner1982).
State certificationrequirementsmay determine the measureof proficiency in the two languagesto be used upon exit from the teacher
preparationprogram. Too often, a standardizedmeasurefor foreign languageteachingthat is not an appropriatemeasurefor languageuse in a
bilingualclassroomis used.From researchin languageproficiencyassessment, we know that integratedand pragmatic languagetests are more
completeand appropriatemeasuresof languageproficiencythan discrete
point tests and that valid measures should obtain an estimate of a
teacher'sreceptiveand productivelanguageskillsin the socialand educational contexts in which the languagewill be used (Hamayan 1981;
Seidner1982;Duron 1983).Keller(1982)alsoquestionsin which language
variety (or varieties)teachersshouldbe testedand the importanceof
measuringboth basic interpersonalcommunicativeskills (BICS)and
cognitive-academic
languageproficiency(CALP)(Cummins1979),includingCALP in the contentareasthe teacherwill be teaching.Some
localmeasures
havebeendevelopedin a few states,but muchremainsto
be done.
In summary,universitybilingualand ESLteachertraining programsare
maturing and expanding,but there is still much that remains to be explored and accomplished.
A nationalsurveyof bilingualprogram faculty
showed that we are relatively inexperienced,with directors averaging
seven years of experiencein teachingtraining, five years in bilingual
teachertraining,and five yearsin bilingualschoolteaching;and bilingual
program faculty averaging five years in teacher training, two years in
bilingual teacher training, and two years in bilingual public school
teaching(Seidner1982).Othermeasures
facultyinvolvement
of BE,/ESL
in active school-basedresearch,faculty commitment to supervisionof
practicum experiencesfor students,and other important applicationsof
researchto the classroomare unknown at a national level. We are a
young emerging field, but there are many highly committed bilingual/ESLprofessionals
in higher educationwho are determinedto institutiortalizebilingual/ESLteachertraining programsand who will work to
strengthenthe link betweenresearchand the classroom.
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