Trekking Across Some Rough Terrain: Rural Teacher Education for Multilingual Students

Abstract

Although the number of multilingual (ML) students continues to rise nationally, little scholarly attention has been paid to the education of rural ML students and families. There is critical need to better understand who rural ML students are and how to align their linguistic knowledge and strengths with appropriate instructional practices. This article examines the current state of research on rural teacher education for ML students. It addresses two areas of the 10 research priorities articulated by the National Rural Education Association’s (NREA) Research Agenda 2016–2021 and enhanced and extended in 2022–2027: building the capacity to meet the needs of diverse populations and teacher-leader preparation for rural schools. A search of four major research databases for work in this area revealed 27 empirical studies published between 2010 and 2022. Three main research categories emerged from the review: (1) six studies on the beliefs and perceptions of teachers on their education and preparation for rural MLs; (2) eight studies related to rural teacher identity and MLs; and (3) 13 studies on teacher leadership, professional development, and collaboration and partnerships for rural MLs. Implications and recommendations for future rural research on ML students in the United States are provided.

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