Book co-authored with VCU education professor tops Cambridge University Press series 2023 title list – VCU News

It was once common for schools to place students with limited English skills in separate classrooms with specialized teachers. But as methods have evolved, more teachers are spending more time with multilingual learners, and a book co-authored by a Virginia Commonwealth University education professor has made waves in the field.

According to Cambridge University Press, Luciana de Oliveira's Teaching Young Multilingual Learners was the top title published in its academic series Cambridge Elements in 2023, with the highest number of downloads and views. 35,567 times.

Dr. de Oliveira is associate dean for academic affairs and graduate studies in the VCU College of Education and a professor in the School of Teaching and Learning. This book, co-authored with Dr. Lauren Jones, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, is a comprehensive collection of research on language teaching practices designed for young multilingual learners in elementary schools in English-speaking environments. Provides an overview. This was one of his 374 titles published in the Elements series across all subject areas in 2023.

Mr. de Oliveira said the purpose of the book is to prepare general education teachers to work with young multilingual learners in all content areas. This is an especially important need as the number of multilingual students in schools in many states is increasing.

“Teaching multilingual learners is a departure from providing language support in specialized classes to students who spend much of their time in school integrated into general education classrooms,” she said. “This means that all teachers, not just ESOL specialists and bilingual teachers, need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to work with this population of students.”

Mr. de Oliveira, who is qualified to teach English and Portuguese, is a past president of the International Association of TESOL, the largest international organization for teachers of multilingual learners around the world.

In April, shortly after the Cambridge book was published, Mr. de Oliveira also published Supporting Academic Language Development for Multilingual Learners: Content, which featured strategies for addressing language demands when teaching English language arts. A Language-Based Approach to Teaching (Routledge) has been published. , social studies, mathematics, science. Both books share Ms. de Oliveira's 30 years of K-12 and higher education teaching experience and the role language plays in content learning and teacher education, including how language plays a role in content learning and teacher education. combines her research into teaching.