Professional Learning Communities for <scp>BIPOC</scp> Teacher Educators: Disrupting Raciolinguistic Ideologies to Support Multilingual Learners

ABSTRACT Teacher preparation to support multilingual learners (MLs) increasingly centers on addressing linguistic and racial inequity. This qualitative study examines the experiences of four BIPOC teacher educators (TEs) engaged in a professional learning community (PLC) while teaching a course designed to prepare content‐area teacher candidates to disrupt raciolinguistic ideologies. Guided by the question, How does a PLC act as a support for BIPOC TEs educating teacher candidates of MLs? , we analyzed data from biweekly meetings, co‐planning sessions, and reflective journals over one semester. Findings reveal how the PLC served as a space for critical identity negotiation, pedagogical innovation, and mutual care. We explored how our racialized identities, linguistic proximity to whiteness (having fluency in dominant American English), and positionalities shaped our teaching and reflections on raising candidates' critical consciousness. Through activities such as linguistic identity analysis and critical language awareness discussions, we confronted both challenges and breakthroughs in supporting TCs' engagement with equity. The PLC emerged as a site of professional growth, healing, and solidarity for BIPOC faculty. By foregrounding our experiences, this study contributes to growing scholarship on TESOL teacher educator identity and highlights PLCs as spaces for racial justice and transformation in teacher education.

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Publication Details

Journal
TESOL Journal
Published
2026-02-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.70113
Primary Topic
Multilingual Education and Policy
Type
article
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article

Professional Learning Communities for BIPOC Teacher Educators: Disrupting Raciolinguistic Ideologies to Support Multilingual Learners

Lindsey Allen, John Chi, Laura J. Mahalingappa, Taylor Lewis
TESOL Journal
Multilingual Education and Policy
article

Professional Learning Communities for BIPOC Teacher Educators: Disrupting Raciolinguistic Ideologies to Support Multilingual Learners

Lindsey Allen, John Chi, Laura J. Mahalingappa, Taylor Lewis
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teacher preparation to support multilingual learners (MLs) increasingly centers on addressing linguistic and racial inequity. This qualitative study examines the experiences of four BIPOC teacher educators (TEs) engaged in a professional learning community (PLC) while teaching a course designed to prepare content‐area teacher candidates to disrupt raciolinguistic ideologies. Guided by the question, How does a PLC act as a support for BIPOC TEs educating teacher candidates of MLs? , we analyzed data from biweekly meetings, co‐planning sessions, and reflective journals over one semester. Findings reveal how the PLC served as a space for critical identity negotiation, pedagogical innovation, and mutual care. We explored how our racialized identities, linguistic proximity to whiteness (having fluency in dominant American English), and positionalities shaped our teaching and reflections on raising candidates' critical consciousness. Through activities such as linguistic identity analysis and critical language awareness discussions, we confronted both challenges and breakthroughs in supporting TCs' engagement with equity. The PLC emerged as a site of professional growth, healing, and solidarity for BIPOC faculty. By foregrounding our experiences, this study contributes to growing scholarship on TESOL teacher educator identity and highlights PLCs as spaces for racial justice and transformation in teacher education.

TESOL JournalVol. 17(1)
University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 61%
Multilingual Education and Policy
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Professional Learning Communities for <scp>BIPOC</scp> Teacher Educators: Disrupting Raciolinguistic Ideologies to Support Multilingual Learners — Lindsey Allen, John Chi, et al. · TESOL Journal (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS