Including Dual Language Learner Content in Higher Education Coursework Critical for California

In California, Dual Language Learners (DLLs), children ages birth to five who are learning a language other than English at home, are a significant but frequently overlooked population. Representing 60% of children ages 0-5, DLLs have the opportunity to become fully bilingual and biliterate, a huge benefit to the children, families, and society. Too often, however, the Early Learning and K-12 education systems fail to provide DLLs with the support they need to develop their skills, leaving DLLs disadvantaged and under-performing in both their home language and English.

Despite the fact that DLLs represent a majority of young children, and that developing both a child’s home language and English simultaneously is critical for future academic and social success, Early Learning teachers in California are not required to receive any specific instruction or training in working with DLLs or their families.

Many Early Learning teacher training programs do not offer DLL-specific coursework in their programs. A review of California Community Colleges, where most Early Learning teachers receive part or all of their education, found that fewer than one in five (17%) offer a single class focusing on teaching DLLs and only four schools out of 110 offer a specific DLL concentration in their Early Childhood Education or Child Development program. At the university level, no school offers a concentration in serving DLLs, and only one-third of California State Universities and a single University of California campus offer a specific class in supporting DLLs.

Given the diversity of languages spoken in California, teachers need support and guidance on how to best engage families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and work with them to strengthen children’s language skills collaboratively. This is why it is critical that California’s institutions of higher education include coursework and content related to supporting DLLs in their programs. This will ensure that California’s teachers are prepared to effectively meet the needs of the majority of the state’s children, DLLs.

In order to help meet this Early Learning workforce need, Early Edge California and PEACH (Partnerships in Education, Articulation, and Collaboration in Higher Education) have partnered in a new webinar series for higher education faculty and teacher educators. The three-part series will highlight the following key instructional strategy areas featured in the online resource hub, the Multilingual Learning Toolkit: family engagement, supporting Multilingual Learners' (MLs) oral language development, and supporting MLs’ home language development.

REGISTER NOW