English Teachers and English Language Learners in Middle School Classrooms: Perspectives and Practices

<p>Public school classrooms in the United States are composed of an increasingly diverse population of learners. The number of students with limited proficiency in English has grown exponentially across the United States, yet their level of academic achievement lags significantly behind that of their language-majority peers.</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes, opinions and practices of middle school language arts/reading teachers regarding the inclusion of ELL students and the support they receive in their classrooms. The researcher administered a survey to 171 language arts/reading middle school teachers and interviewed six teachers from fourteen schools in a school district in the Southwest United States.</p> <p>Respondents welcomed the cultural diversity that ELL students bring to the classroom, but encouraged linguistic assimilation as a condition of student success. A significant percentage of teachers indicated some ELL training but felt inadequately prepared to the challenges of teaching ELL students. Native language resources and instructional materials were limited and not used. Teachers were willing to give students more time to complete their coursework, but not necessarily lessen the amount of student work.</p> <p>Based on these findings and their relationship to the literature of the field, the author recommended that further research be conducted regarding the relationship between teachers' language attitude and student outcomes, and geographical areas and grade levels. Additional recommendations were made regarding specialized certification for teachers of ELL students, professional development programs, educational policy and state legislative action.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Manzanares, Elmer Celso

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kent Seidel, Ph.D.
• Virginia Maloney
• Maria Salazar
• Frédérique Chevillot

• ELL
• English language learners
• Mainstream students
• Educational Administration and Supervision

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/867

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1866