The Effects of Multicultural and Bilingual Training on Preservice Students' Self-Reported Level of Competency

The differences in preservice students' self-reported level of multicultural/bilingual competencies were investigated. Their scores were determined by the Teaching Competencies for Bilingual/Multicultural Exceptional Children, (TCBMEC), an instrument developed by Prieto, Rueda, and Rodriguez (1981). The results indicated that participants who received in-class experiences perceived their level of competency to be higher than those who received practicum experiences only or no treatment at all. Furthermore, participants who received practicum experiences or no treatment at all, perceived their level of competency to be lower than those who received in-class treatment with practicum experiences. Finally, there were no statistically significant differences between participants who received in-class treatment with practicum experiences and participants who received only in-class treatment.