Multimodal Pedagogies for Teacher Education in TESOL

As a growing number of English language learners (ELLs) engage in digital and multimodal literacy practices in their daily lives, teachers are starting to incorporate multimodal approaches into their instruction. However, anecdotal and empirical evidence shows that teachers often feel unprepared for integrating such practices into their curricula (Coyle, Yanez, & Verdu, 2010; Sadik, 2008). This particular concern has led the authors of this essay to examine ways in which multimodal literacy practices can be integrated into teacher education for teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). This Teaching Issues article describes how the first author designed and implemented two multimodal practices for preservice and in-service teacher education programs in the United States. The essay highlights the challenges of incorporating multimodal practices into teacher education (e.g., epistemological issues, instructional challenges, and teachers' resistance to multimodal practices). The authors offer suggestions for overcoming those challenges and propose future directions for TESOL teacher education and professional development.