Coaching Teachers in Bilingual and Dual-Language Classrooms. Alexandra Guilamo
of students or face the consequences of a majority of the U.S. population without the expertise and training necessary to be our future workforce.
As schools rethink how to ensure high-quality instruction for bilingual and dual-language learners, sweeping school-level, program-level, and policy changes are happening across the United States. One of the policy changes that influenced other U.S. states was California’s repeal of English-only requirements with Proposition 58 in 2016 (Hopkinson, 2017). This move has opened the door to a growing number of options for schools to leverage bilingual and dual-language programs—programs that have proven to be more effective than English-only models that result in a consistent pattern of failure for language learners (Collier & Thomas, 2004).
Educators must take steps to ensure that the growing number of bilingual and dual-language students served by an expanding number of programs and schools is set up for success. The teachers in these schools are in varying stages of expertise and ownership and need support. With the range of teachers, students, programs, and situations, the best form of support is a coach who is successfully and consistently able to help teachers effectively drive student achievement.
Consequences of Failing to Act
If we don’t develop and maintain supports for language learners, their teachers, and their coaches, the consequences will be serious. In failing to act, we turn our backs on the fundamental belief of education to place student learning at the center of teaching. In acting to prevent failure, schools must ensure that all teachers have access to building-level supports designed to improve student learning, especially for classrooms that serve the complex needs of language learners. With the rapidly growing number of bilingual and dual-language students represented in our schools, our collective future depends on their success.
There are many program models that serve these students. However, the observation and feedback cycle offered in this book works just as effectively in each model. The observation and feedback cycle offered in this book supports each of the four most widely used models: (1) dual-language (DL) programs, (2) transitional bilingual education (TBE), (3) foreign language immersion (FLI) programs, and (4) transitional programs of instruction (TPI), such as English as a second language (ESL) and English to speakers of other languages (ESOL). Teachers using these programs truly need the type of coaching and collaboration outlined in this book. Table I.1 (page 6) provides a brief description of these four models, or program types.
Each of the four program models contains distinctive characteristics. Additionally, one of four different formats can be used for each of the four distinctive models. These formats include one-way programs, two-way programs, early-exit programs, and late-exit programs (see figure I.1).
Figure I.1: Program models and classrooms organized under the language learner programs umbrella.
Table I.1: Program Models and Descriptions
| Program Model | Acronym | Description |
| Dual-Language Programs | DL | In this program, students receive 50 percent of their school day (instructional and noninstructional time) in English and 50 percent in the target language (language other than English). |
| Transitional Bilingual Education | TBE | In this program, classrooms generally begin in kindergarten with 90 percent of instruction in the target language and 10 percent of instruction in English. With each grade after kindergarten, students further increase their percentage of English instruction until they transition to English only. |
| Foreign Language Immersion Programs | FLI | In this program, non–language learners receive instruction in the target language for a specified number of courses (for example, French social studies or Spanish science) as enrichment. |
| Transitional Programs of Instruction | TPI (such as English as a second language [ESL] and English to speakers of other languages [ESOL]) | In these programs, language specialists either push into the general education classroom or pull students out of the classroom to teach language learners from a variety of language backgrounds; they often leverage native language during instruction for language learners early in their English acquisition. |
One-way programs serve students who represent one linguistic group and subsequently one direction of language learning—for example, all Spanish-speaking students who are all learning English. Two-way programs serve students in two linguistic groups and therefore two directions of language learning, such as in the case of a classroom containing half Chinese-speaking and half English-speaking students who must learn from each other. Early-exit programs focus on early education, and typically students leave them between second and third grade. Late-exit programs allow a longer period for second language acquisition, often spanning seven academic years, and provide content-area instruction in the student’s first language in the earlier years of the program.
These program models and accompanying structures hope to change the pattern of failure for bilingual and dual-language students. Yet, in order to reap the benefits of a program model, teachers must have the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for developing and implementing an effective educational experience that balances all the needs of students and the program.
While some program models may explicitly include the goals of bilingualism and biliteracy, grade-level academic achievement across two languages, and sociocultural competence, other models of bilingual education focus simply on students’ English literacy and overall grade-level academic achievement. And while more options create greater possibilities for a better future, they also require schools to develop their staff expertise. Few teacher preparation programs truly build the expertise that is essential to teacher success with bilingual and dual-language students.
According to the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality in 2009–2010, twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have certification requirements for a teaching certificate in bilingual education (López, 2014). However, many teachers are still not prepared for the realities of meeting the diverse needs they encounter. This means that even if teachers are fluent in all languages that their students know, they may lack an understanding of the pedagogy, authentic literacy development, instructional planning, and other expertise they need to be successful bilingual and dual-language educators.
In truth, even as program model design and effectiveness remain of critical importance, one of the greatest barriers to student success is the lack of qualified teachers for bilingual and dual-language programs. In the 2017–2018 school year, thirty-two states reported teacher shortages of bilingual and dual-language teachers (Liebtag & Haugen, 2015). Shortages stem from a number of challenging issues. One such issue is that schools ask these teachers to engage in long hours of translating materials, and they often need to modify curricular resources that were not designed for bilingual and dual-language students after having been told they simply have to make it work.
The extra responsibilities of bilingual and dual-language teachers can make the job very challenging. This challenge is only exacerbated by the fact that these teachers often work in relative isolation. They must find ways to effectively design instruction without collaborative planning with their peers and meet school standards of success with little or no support. Bilingual and dual-language teachers are in particular danger of burning out early, and talented, caring teachers may avoid the career path due to the expected heavy workload in absence of the emotional support of other educators.
Simple coaching support (from other teachers, school-based instructional leaders, and district-level supports) could not only provide bilingual and dual-language teachers with strategies, time, and materials to teach more effectively but also with collegial respect for their work that reduces low morale (Harris & Sandoval-Gonzalez, 2017).
In an attempt to address the current and impending teacher shortages,