Teacher beliefs and approaches to linguistic diversity. Spanish as a second language in the inclusion of immigrant students

Abstract

This study examines teachers’ beliefs regarding linguistic diversity and their approaches to teaching Spanish as a second language (SSL) in the inclusion of immigrant students whose first language is not Spanish. Grounded in a qualitative study in multicultural schools in Andalusia (Spain), we compared the voices of two groups of teachers: regular teachers and specialist language teachers. Teachers reflected monolingual beliefs -from assimilationist to deficit approaches- and attached great importance to the role that SSL has for immigrant students. Results indicated the need for professional development for teachers to promote multilingualism based on beliefs of language-as-resource or language-as-right.