Teaching with Equity in Mind: A Case Study of How One Teacher Meets the Needs of Emergent Bilingual Learners

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has been widely theorized and deemed effective for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, but there is a gap in empirical studies on how CRP supports the social and academic needs of Emergent Bilingual (EB) students. Also, a diverse set of approaches that can be conceptualized as linguistically responsive teaching (LRT) was developed to support teachers of EB students. Specifically, researchers have considered the possibility that a combination of CRP and LRT may benefit EB students, but studies that show how teachers integrate and implement the two are limited. The purpose of this study was to describe if and how a teacher combines CRP and LRT to meet the needs of her EB students. Observations and interviews were used to capture the meaning-making perspectives of the classroom teacher. Findings indicated that this teacher possessed specific knowledge, beliefs, dispositions, and practices that synchronously informed each other. While many of her practices aligned with the tenets of CRP, with regards to LRT, her practices were emerging.