Meaningful Spaces: Using Read Alouds to Improve Teacher Candidates’ Engagement of Multilingual Learners

By: Jeanne Carey Ingle, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Bridgewater State University
Nicole J. Glen, Ph.D., Professor & Associate Provost, Bridgewater State University

Third graders discuss possible ways to solve a new math problem. Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages.

Multilingual learners (MLs) are the fastest growing population in public schools in the US, increasing by 60% over the last 10 years, yet these students rarely reach academic parity with their English-speaking peers (NAEP, 2022). Simultaneously, STEM careers are the fastest growing professions for high school and college graduates (USBLS, 2022). However, ML preparation in STEM subject areas is particularly lacking. Limited STEM education for MLs has a ripple effect within multilingual communities where lack of access to science content limits access to STEM secondary programs and post-secondary careers (NASEM, 2018). Creating opportunities for engagement with STEM careers and content during elementary school opens doors for MLs as they enter middle and high schools with varied STEM learning and career-preparation opportunities.

Encouraging more people from a variety of language and racial backgrounds to enter STEM professions begins in elementary and early childhood education. Unfortunately, teachers are ill-prepared to teach MLs in STEM due to a lack of preparation and appropriate pedagogical materials and a misunderstanding about effective pedagogy for teaching STEM in a ML classroom (Buck et al., 2005; Ardasheva & Tretter, 2013; Alexander, 2017).

This blog post shares the activities and results of our IUSE:EDU grant 2021338, Preparing Elementary Preservice Teachers to Support STEM Success for English Learners (STEM-EL). STEM-EL is unique in its structure and content as it prepares elementary teacher candidates to teach upper elementary MLs through a lens of STEM content, ML education, and relevant multicultural children’s literature.

The Role of the Read Aloud in ML STEM Education

Preparing teacher candidates (TCs) to create meaningful space for STEM instruction connected with high-quality, equity-focused children’s literature accessible to upper elementary MLs is, we believe, a social justice imperative.  A read aloud can be a magical moment of connectedness and deep learning between a teacher and their students (Brooks, 2022; Cole, et.al, 2017).  Often, read alouds are the domain of primary classrooms.  As children grow older and reading becomes more content specific, the read aloud is relegated to an auxiliary role in the English Language Arts time block and rarely an essential component of upper elementary and middle school STEM education. The read aloud is an excellent culminating example of the learning TCs experienced during STEM-EL and is an activity that research has shown will have a lasting impact on their future teaching (DeJulio et. al., 2022; Roessingh, 2020, Cole et al., 2017).

The goal of our program was to prepare TCs to have a deeper understanding of STEM content and careers and to be trained in the strategies necessary to effectively teach that content to MLs. Read alouds are a rigorous and engaging strategy for MLs by providing more meaningful learning (Christ & Cho, 2021; Viesca et al., 2012) and connections to their lives. As a central activity of the TCs’ experience, the read aloud provided an understanding of the need for targeted and scaffolded lesson planning. STEM and reading are deeply blended, and the STEM read aloud was a perfect demonstration of this for these novice educators.

The STEM Biographical Read Aloud Assignment

The program’s centering of a multicultural biographical read aloud served several purposes. Elementary TCs are not often comfortable in STEM content but are more comfortable, and often better trained at, conducting a read aloud. Table 1 outlines the read aloud assignment.  This activity challenged the TCs to present a read aloud that featured racially and linguistically diverse STEM professionals, to do the research on these professionals, and to develop activities and strategies to teach about these professionals and their contributions to STEM. The children who participated in these read alouds saw STEM professionals who may have looked like them, had linguistic similarities, or had comparable immigration stories. TCs learned to see and elevate the strengths and skills ML children brought to their classrooms. Most importantly, TCs understood the necessity of providing academic access to STEM for all learners.

Table 1. Read aloud project assignment

Table 2 below shows a sample of the texts used, STEM concepts that align with the content, and an activity to build students’ ELA and/or STEM skills. The full lesson spanned three days. On Day 1 TCs introduced the book and/or STEM professional and began reading, on Day 2 they continued reading and used 7-step vocabulary if encountered in the text, and on Day 3 TCs finished reading (if necessary), used 7-step vocabulary, and conducted their ELA or STEM activity. Because our TCs were new at teaching, these lesson plans were conducted with small groups (2-4 students) in a 5th or 6th grade classroom.

Table 2. Texts, concepts, and activities for read aloud project

Teacher Candidate Reflections

As we analyzed data from TCs’ journals and daily focus group interviews, the interactive read aloud emerged as a significant component of the TC’s overall learning experience. Within this assignment, several sub-themes emerged that gave a deeper understanding of how TCs see themselves as teachers of STEM content and their understanding of MLs.

Research Findings

STEM-EL’s research findings showed that TCs reported feeling more optimistic, well-prepared, and confident about their ability to work successfully in a classroom comprised of majority MLs. Results (Figure 1) from the Social Justice Inclusion Survey (SJIS) (Boivin et al., 2022) showed significant improvements in attitudes and feelings about teaching multilingual learners.

Figure 1. Results from Social Justice Inclusion Survey

These results showed that our teacher candidates felt greater enthusiasm for teaching multilingual learners, believed they were well-prepared, and felt more confident about their ability to work successfully in a majority multilingual learner classroom. In addition, qualitative data supported these results with students reporting that they acknowledged their previous biases toward multilingual learners and expressed a newly found asset-based view of multilingual learners’ linguistic skills in a STEM classroom.

Qualitative data further showed the interactive read aloud was a central component of our students’ learning experience and an important skill set that they can take with them into their future classrooms. The data also suggest that higher self-efficacy may help combat deeply ingrained biases as TCs learn that MLs can be successful in STEM. These findings are consistent with previous research on the experience of TCs in learning how to integrate multicultural literature into ML classrooms (Christ & Cho, 2021; Cole et al., 2017), engage upper elementary students (Roessingh, 2020), and develop a deeper understanding of ML students’ needs (Giroir et al., 2015). They indicate an important milestone for these TCs at a very early stage of their preparation. Our TCs also show an appreciation of MLs as partners in the learning process and an understanding of the complex science of lesson planning and an effective and meaningful interactive read aloud.

The interactive read aloud provided an opportunity for TCs to combine their STEM experience and knowledge with the direct instruction of a small group of MLs. This was an initial and powerful teaching experience for these TCs and demonstrates an excellent model for TC preparation. The STEM-EL program demonstrates that improving TCs’ understandings about MLs within the context of STEM can provide a starting point to re-envisioning teacher education opportunities with multicultural, multilingual, and anti-racist STEM education at the forefront.

Jeanne Carey Ingle, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Bridgewater State University
jingle@bridgew.edu

Jeanne Carey Ingle is Associate Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Bridgewater State University. She is an International Initiatives’ Faculty Fellow and co-principal investigator for STEM-EL, a NSF IUSE:EDU grant. She teaches courses on supporting multilingual learners in the classroom and educational technology. Dr. Ingle has published her work in multiple book chapters, academic journals, and practitioner publications and is currently co-authoring a book on digital literacy for teacher preparation to be published by Kendall Hunt in 2025. She also frequently presents at national and international conferences.

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Nicole J. Glen, Ph.D., Professor & Associate Provost, Bridgewater State University
nglen@bridgew.edu

Nicole J. Glen is a Professor of STEM Education and Associate Provost for Academic & Faculty Affairs at Bridgewater State University. She is the principal Investigator for STEM-EL, a NSF IUSE:EDU grant. She teaches courses on science and engineering education and the integration of language and literacy in STEM to undergraduate and graduate students. She has a number of publications, presentations, and professional development programs focused on STEM in elementary and middle school classrooms and that support pre-service and in-service teachers in their STEM teaching and learning. She also loves visiting local schools to conduct STEM learning activities for young children!