Crossing borders to teach English language learners

Abstract

A teacher's identity is thought to evolve in a continuous, situated fashion, amidst dynamic interaction between cognitive, affective, social, cultural and political factors. However, the literature provides little insight into the impact on the ongoing identity construction of class teachers when they encounter a few students with English as an additional language (EAL) in their mainstream classes. This paper reports on a year-long study involving eight class teachers in four different New Zealand primary schools. Data from in-class observations, interspersed by a series of individual reflective discussions, revealed how the presence of EAL students in the mainstream setting created tensions, the resolution of which shaped class teachers' professional identities. Tensions surfaced in data on class teachers' self-efficacy perceptions, selection of teaching roles, relations with support teachers and professional development priorities. These findings thus provide fresh insights into how new situations may impact on class teachers' selfidentities. In particular, this investigation suggests the need for schools, teacher educators and policy makers to assist teachers in challenging, and indeed moving outside of the socially prescribed borders that have traditionally defined their professional identities within the school, in order to build shared practices and more collaborative ways of solving problems.

Collaboration to teach English language learners: opportunities for shared teacher learning

“…As the population of culturally and linguistically diverse students continues to increase in schools around the world, research has shown that many teachers are not adequately prepared to meet the needs of these students (Gándara, Maxwell-Jolly, & Rumberger, 2008;Haworth, 2008;Hutchinson & Hadjioannou, 2011;Miller, 2011;Rumberger & Gándara, 2005;Téllez & Waxman, 2006). This situation presents a challenge and an opportunity to engage teachers in ongoing learning in their schools as they seek better ways to teach language minority students (we use the term English language learners, or ELLs, throughout this paper because this was the term used in the school context), yet more research is needed to understand how to promote this learning among teachers.…”

Exploring professional identities of nonnative‐English‐speaking teachers in the United States: A narrative case study

“…It shapes teachers’ pedagogical approaches and interactions with learners (Duff & Uchida, ; Menard‐Warwick, ; Morgan, ) and teachers’ engagement with professional development and/or teacher preparation programs as well as teachers’ beliefs; it filters content presented to them and affects their efficacy and implementation of strategies (Clarke, ; Trent, ; Yazan, ; Yazan & Peercy, ). Recent research has identified the complexity of factors that shape LTI (Beauchamp & Thomas, ; Martin & Strom, ; Yazan, ), including emotions and feelings (Reis, ; Wolff & De Costa, ; Yazan, ), cognitions and beliefs (Golombek, ; Golombek & Doran, ; Yoon, ), racial background (Amin, ; Lee & Simon‐Maeda, ; Motha, ; Park, ), and policies (Assaf, ; Haworth, ; Park, ).…”

Building a whole school approach and teacher efficacy with English language learners

“…Context is particularly critical to self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). It has been found that, while a teacher may have a high sense of general teaching efficacy, his/her sense of efficacy in the context of teaching ELLs may be significantly lower if a teacher does not have relevant professional knowledge (Haworth, 2008(Haworth, , 2009.…”

“…On one hand, schools in areas with a high socio-economic status (SES) generally have a greater range of ethnic diversity, but a smaller proportion of these learners may require English language support. In addition, the ethnic profile in higher SES schools tends to be more changeable; hence, teachers in these settings may find it more difficult to develop an effective pedagogical approach (Haworth, 2008). On the other hand, schools located in lower SES areas generally have a greater number of ELLs, spread across a more stable and narrower range of ethnic diversity.…”