A Review of Literature : Preservice Teacher Education In U.S. with a Focus on Prejudice Reduction and Equity Pedagogy

This study aims to get some insights for preservice teacher education program in Korea by investigating in what ways the preservice teachers in the U.S. have been prepared for teaching their multicultural, multiethnic students. In particular, this article reviews the research literature related to preservice teacher education in the U.S. and issue of diversity, especially focusing on prejudice reduction approach and equity pedagogy approach. This article is organized in the following four sections with the purpose of showing how different contexts in teacher education affected the teacher candidates’ prejudice reduction or equity pedagogy: (a) studies of a course, (b) studies of a course with field experience connected to a school and/or community, (c) studies of school-based field experiences, and (d) studies of community-based field experiences. Furthermore, in reviewing (c) the studies of school-based field experiences and (d) studies of community-based field experiences, the rationale of locating those studies within each topic is based upon the “reported results” of the studies, because it appears that, in most cases, the researchers of those studies did not clearly explain which approach -- prejudice reduction or equity pedagogy -- their studies were focused.