When Collaboration Fails: Trust as Part of ESL and Content Teacher Relationships

• In Event: Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Context, Climate, and Connectedness: Considering Factors That Inform Student Performance

Abstract

Collaboration between ESL and Content Area Teachers is a key factor in the success of English Language Learners. This presentation will discuss the findings of a qualitative inquiry at a secondary school with a well-established ESL program. Lack of respect for ESL and anti-immigration sentiments emerged as detrimental to collaboration. Trust is hypothesized as an element of collaboration and the presentation will explore how a lack of trust leads to a false sense of collaboration. The author presents a possible theory, based on the work of Sztompka (1999) and D’Amour (1999) for understanding phenomena.

Author

• Jeremy Ortloff, Hobart and William Smith Colleges