Practical, research-grounded guidance to prepare teachers to deliver assets-based literacy instruction for English Learners/Emerging Bilinguals (EL/EBs). Authored by Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., Ester de Jong, Ed.D., and Patricia Venegas-Weber, Ph.D. (October 2025).
Summary
The NCEL Teacher Education Digest synthesizes what works in teacher preparation for EL/EB literacy: from coursework that builds bilingual/second-language pedagogies to clinical experiences that turn knowledge into classroom practice. It centers an assets-based approach—leveraging students’ linguistic and cultural strengths to accelerate language and literacy development.
What’s inside
- Promising practices in teacher preparation that build knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching EL/EBs (e.g., language portraits, critical linguistic autobiographies, and community-based case studies).
- Lesson-planning guidance that pairs content and language objectives and makes cross-linguistic connections explicit.
- Field/clinical scenarios (K–2) showing micro-teaching, small-group phonemic awareness, and idiom instruction aligned with ELD.
- Bilingual/dual-language teaching example using dialogic reading and Spanish decodables to connect reading and writing.
- Implications for policy: licensure, ongoing professional development, and district–university partnerships that sustain teacher expertise.
Why it matters
Nearly one in four students nationwide are emergent bilinguals—teacher preparation that treats bilingualism as an asset is essential for equitable literacy outcomes.
Who should read this
Teacher educators, preparation program leaders, school/district administrators, policymakers, literacy coaches, and classroom teachers beginning or refining EL/EB-responsive practice.
About the authors
- Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D. — Loyola Marymount University; co-author of The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL).
- Ester de Jong, Ed.D. — University of Colorado Denver; former TESOL International President; CAL Board Chair.
- Patricia Venegas-Weber, Ph.D. — Dual Language Program Supervisor, Washington OSPI; former dual-language educator and literacy researcher.