Abstract
Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE), like all ELs, need to learn the language of their host country. In addition, SLIFE must develop age-appropriate literacy and content knowledge. Equally important, and often overlooked, SLIFE have not formed an identity as a learner in a formal educational setting, and do not know how to “do school,” ranging from knowing where to put their name on a paper to how to behave and participate in class. A significant aspect of learning school culture is being able to engage in school-based tasks, which are, for the most part, decontextualized, and rely on a mastery of their associated ways of thinking or ‘academic ways of thinking.’ In the same way that ‘just good teaching’ for general population students is not enough for ELs because it does not recognize linguistic and cultural diversity (de Jong & Harper. Teach Educ Q 32(2):101–124, 2005), good teaching for ELs does not necessarily deliver the additional literacy, content, and school culture basics that SLIFE require. This poses a dilemma for teacher educators who rarely include such curriculum or strategies in their programs. This chapter explores how teacher educators can address the unique needs of SLIFE by targeting differences rooted in their prior learning experiences, and by teaching from a cultural dissonance, rather than from a deficiency perspective. As a result, teacher candidates will be better prepared to work with SLIFE.
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Notes
- 1.
The term SLIFE as used in this chapter will be understood to include LESLLA learners.
- 2.
Thanks to Yiannis (Yanni) Philippacopoulos for permission to use this example.
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DeCapua, A., Marshall, H.W. (2022). Making Space for Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education in Teacher Education. In: Pentón Herrera, L.J. (eds) English and Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education. Educational Linguistics, vol 54. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86963-2_8
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