The distinction of different forms of teachers’ knowledge based on Shulman’s work (Shulman, 1987) is actually often the basis for research in the field of teachers’ professional development. The differentiation between teachers’ pedagogical knowledge (PK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) und content knowledge (CK) has been successfully adopted in actual research projects that focus on the effects of teacher knowledge on classrooms environments (e.g. TEDS-M; Blömeke et al., 2010) and on effects on students’ achievement growths (COACTIV; Baumert et al., 2010). However, it is still an open question which knowledge, skills, and competencies teachers need to face the problem of learning disparities based on students’ social and cultural background. Actual large scale assessments like TIMSS, PISA, and PIRLS show that successful support of multilingual learners in diverse classrooms is one of the central challenges in schools today (Lucas & Villegas, 2011). Accordingly, international researchers call for systematic language facilitation integrated into subject teaching by teachers who are able to support multilingual learners’ academic language development in reference to subject-specific requirements (Schleppegrell, 2007). There is, ergo, a need for the development of teachers’ second language teaching competencies to be implemented in regular teacher education (de Jong & Harper, 2005) and in in-service teachers’ professional development.

However, teacher education still lacks a uniform approach for preparing future teachers to teach multilingual learners. Even in the USA, where a large population of K-12 students have a home language other than English, only three states require pre-service preparation of mainstream classroom teachers for working with Second Language (L2) learners (Lucas & Villegas, 2011). Also in Germany the absence of elaborated standards prevails even though reforms in teacher training acts in several German federal states stipulate that pre-service teachers of all subject areas acquire competencies in German as a Second Language in addition to their disciplinary expertise.

Actual approaches of preparing learning environments for teaching in linguistically diverse classrooms have been reviewed by Bunch (2013). First, there are approaches that focus on linguistic features of texts and tasks using systemic functional linguistics and how teachers can support L2 learners while teaching their subject knowledge. The second kind of approach is focusing on sociocultural aspects of learning and how to apprentice multilingual learners in academic practices. Different aspects of language will be seen here as a resource for participation in learning structures and learning activities (Bunch, 2013).

In the symposium the four paper presentations focus on different aspects of learning environments for teaching in linguistically diverse classrooms. Two presentations from Germany report on the effects of learning environments in the pre-service teacher education on the university level. Whereas two other presentations provide results from two online professional learning communities of in-service teachers from the USA and Finland. All contributions within the symposium will discuss empirical results on the effects of different opportunities to learn for linguistically responsive teaching.

Baumert, J., Kunter, M., Blum, W., Brunner, M., Voss, T., Jordan, A., Klusmann, U., Krauss, S., Neubrand, M., & Tsai, Y.-M. (2010). Teachers' mathematical knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and student progress. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 133-180. doi:10.3102/0002831209345157 Blömeke, S., Kaiser, G., & Lehmann, R. (Hrsg.) (2010). TEDS-M 2008. Professionelle Kompetenz und Lerngelegenheiten angehender Primarlehrkräfte im internationalen Vergleich. Münster: Waxmann. Bunch, G. C. (2013). Pedagogical language knowledge preparing mainstream teachers for English learners in the new standards era. Review of Research in Education, 37(1), 298-341. doi:10.3102/0091732X12461772 de Jong, E. J., & Harper, C. A. (2005). Preparing Mainstream Teachers for English-Language Learners: Is Being a Good Teacher Good Enough ? Teacher Education Quarterly, 32(2), 101 – 124. Lucas, T., & Villegas, A. M. (2011). A framework for preparing linguistically responsive teachers. In T. Lucas (Ed.), Teacher preparation for linguistically diverse classrooms: A resource for teacher educators (pp. 55-72). New York, NY: Routledge. Schleppegrell, M. J. (2007). The Linguistic Challenges of Mathematics. Teaching and Learning: a Research Review. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 23, 139 – 159. Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1 – 21.