Bilingual/ESL preservice teachers’ heritage language and language identity: Evidence from multimodal literacy autobiographies

Analyzing bilingual/ESL preservice teachers' multimodal autobiographies allowed us to investigate the role of one's linguistic/ethnic identities in professional development. Participants were 30 preservice teachers, mostly first-generation college students, in a teacher preparation program. Findings highlighted participants' selection of particular modal resources as they recounted their lived language/literacy history, pointing to participants' response to the language demands of their schooling contexts. Some reported difficult transitions to English-only classrooms, others expressed struggles to maintain their heritage language, and many recounted challenges with language proficiency in either or both languages. These experiences became a lifelong catalyst for pursuing a teaching career.