Structured reflection and immersion in Ecuador: Expanding teachers’ intercultural and linguistic competencies

A large-scale mixed-method research project examined a US-American teacher education program that aims to prepare novice teachers to instruct English language learners. The program under study was a two-semester-long Teaching English as a Second Language certificate program with an embedded six-week culture/language immersion experience in a Spanish/Kichwa-speaking region of the Andes of Ecuador. This study investigated changes in global perspectives, knowledge of one’s own and other cultures, and awareness of and engagement with people who are not similar to oneself, fostered by participation in a teaching field experience and immersion in Ecuador. It also addressed teacher development objectives that can be seen as critical for the effective teaching of students of linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. The implications of the findings point to the importance of carefully designing an immersive experience to foster outcomes relevant to the specific goals of program participants. Additionally, the results suggest educational formats that allow for a more meaningful, ‘deep processing’ of the intercultural experience.