Preparing Secondary Science Pre-Service Teachers to Teach in Linguistically Diverse Classrooms

As United States classrooms become increasingly linguistically diverse and national reform documents call for a greater focus on language use in the science classroom, it is becoming critical that pre-service science teachers are prepared to teach language- and literacy-integrated science in linguistically diverse classrooms. The three studies presented in this dissertation seek to build on a nascent field of research addressing how to best prepare secondary science pre-service teachers for linguistically diverse science classrooms through the implementation and analysis of a language- and literacy-integrated science intervention grounded in current research in the fields of English language development, K-12 science education, and teacher preparation. Analyses of secondary science pre-service teachers’ instructional planning for and implementation of language- and literacy-integrated science instruction, as well as analysis of contextual factors that support or constrain such implementation, provide a window into how science teacher educators and researchers can better support secondary science pre-service teachers in implementing science instruction that is truly designed for all students.