A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Sheltered Math for Emergent Bilinguals: A Case Study of a Novice High School Teacher




AuthorsTigert, Johanna M.; Fotouhi, Golnar

PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons

Publication year2025

JournalTESOL journal

Article numbere70063

Volume16

Issue3

ISSN1056-7941

eISSN1949-3533

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.70063

Web address https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tesj.70063

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/498886286


Abstract

Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) is a common instructional approach to serve Emergent Bilingual (EB) students through Content-Based Instruction. However, little is known about how novice teachers implement SEI in their content areas once they enter the profession. This dearth of research is particularly pronounced in math, a content area where research has shown teachers to be prone to neglect the language learning needs of EBs. In this case study, we examine the perceptions of and the implementation of SEI by a novice mathematics teacher who had completed a single SEI course during her teacher education program. The findings showed that the teacher implemented some SEI strategies well, such as teaching vocabulary and modifying her instructional materials with visuals, color-coding, and guided notes. However, she struggled to chunk information for her students and did not engage them in extended mathematical discourse or promote translanguaging in home languages. The study shows that a single SEI course does not provide sufficient tools for a novice teacher to fully meet the needs of EBs. Implications for teacher education and research are discussed.


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Funding information in the publication
The authors received no specific funding for this work.


Last updated on 2025-12-08 at 12:26