This study aims to determine a connection between the pre-service teachers' perception of preparedness and their self-efficacy in instructing students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The researcher was guided by three research questions: 1) What are preservice teachers' perceptions of their abilities to teach culturally and…

In this interview-based study, we examine two Latina bilingual teacher candidates' accounts of their experiences as Spanish-dominant, Mexican-national bilingual speakers in social and institutional spaces. We analyze their accounts of grappling with circulating language ideologies from a raciolinguistic perspective, using tenets of critical…

This study explores teachers' use of Spanish in sixth-grade bilingual science classrooms at an urban middle school in Texas. We used a case study approach to study how two Spanish-English bilingual teachers utilized Spanish during instruction in a unit on space exploration and their beliefs on Spanish use in English-dominant science classrooms.…

In this paper, we investigate the effect that parents' language use (English, Spanish-English or Spanish) had on self-perceived proficiency, frequency of use, language anxiety, code-switching and cultural orientation of 206 Spanish-English bilinguals and multilinguals who were students in Texas where there is a strong presence of Spanish, the…

This article examines the language ideologies associated with the sense of self-efficacy of bilingual preservice teachers about their Spanish-language skills. Current teacher shortages in the field of bilingual education and increased professional demands placed over pre- and in-service bilingual teachers compel teacher education programs to adapt…

Home language experiences are important for children's development of language and literacy. However, the home language context is complex, especially for Spanish-speaking children in the United States. A child's use of Spanish or English likely ranges along a continuum, influenced by preferences of particular people involved, such as parents,…

Over the past few years, media use among children and teens has become more prevalent than ever. With the launch of the iPod, the explosion in instant messaging, the birth of mobile video and YouTube, and the advent of social networking sites like MySpace, young people are rarely out of contact, or out of reach of the media. Meanwhile,…