What is Multidialecticalism

This chapter outlines the elements of a course unit on language variation within a culture and education ESOL course intended to support the development of pre-service elementary education teacher candidates' awareness of language variation writ large and, more specifically, their knowledge concerning the nature of American English dialects, along with their understanding and appreciation of their future students' home dialects/languages. The chapter begins with a discussion of various theories that frame the course unit (challenging language norms, heteroglossia, critical applied linguistics, language-as-problem/right/resource, and language variation) and provides an overview of several prevailing attitudes concerning dialectical variation and how the course unit works to counter these narratives. The chapter then highlights the resources, activities, and assignments that constitute the course unit along with an examination of how and why they are included and utilized in the unit.