"They Treat Me Like a Real Teacher Now": ESL Teacher Identity in Collaborative Contexts

• In Event: Co-Teaching for English Learners: Evidence-Based Practices and Research-Informed Outcomes

Abstract

English learners (ELs) continue to represent one of the fastest growing segments of the K-12 student population in the United States (Goldschmidt & Hakuta, 2017). Unfortunately, academic performance for these students has faltered as schools struggle to provide equitable education to ELs. Average scores for ELs on the 2013 reading and math NAEP assessments at all grade levels were significantly lower than for non-ELs, and ELs dropout rates remain the lowest of any subgroup at 62% (OELA, 2017). In recent years, many school districts have implemented collaborative instructional models like co-teaching in an effort to improve educational outcomes for ELs.
Perspectives
Co-teaching pairs the general education teacher with an ESL teacher in order to provide a focus on language development within the mainstream setting (Author & Author, 2010a). Co-teaching research has demonstrated how the practice promotes EL engagement in the mainstream classroom (Author & Author, 2010b) and facilitates prolonged teacher learning and professional development (Peercy & Martin-Beltran, 2012). Scholars have also examined how a lack of schedules and routines (Peercy, Ditter, & Destefano, 2017) and differences in power (Author & Author, 2010c) can create significant challenges in co-teaching relationships. Harper and de Jong (2009) add that as ELs are increasingly mainstreamed into the regular classroom, ESL teacher knowledge and expertise can be devalued and marginalized in co-teaching settings. The purpose of this study is to provide a contextualized understanding of how ESL teachers in the southeastern United States understand and navigate their new roles in these collaborative contexts. To frame the analysis of shifting identities, I draw on the work of Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, and Johnson (2004), who theorize language teacher identity as fluid, complex, and socio-politically constructed. Additionally, given the multicultural and multilingual realities of language education, I also draw from Motha’s (2005) work that highlights the salience of race in ESL teacher identity negotiation.
Methodology
The study draws primarily from semi-structured interviews with ESL teachers from school districts in North Carolina that have adopted co-teaching in the past five years. To identify participants for the study, a survey was distributed via the state’s ESL listserv. Of the 148 respondents, 8 were selected for semi-structured qualitative interviews (Seidman, 2012). Each participant was interviewed twice at their school; interviews were recorded and transcribed by the author who also took fieldnotes after each interview. School, district, and state documents related to co-teaching and professional development were analyzed to provide detail on the broader school and community contexts. Findings indicate that ESL teachers experienced significant shifts in understanding regarding their professional identities. Shifts occurred, however, along a continuum, ranging from experiencing a loss of professional identity to feeling legitimated as a professional as a result of teaching in mainstream classrooms. In addition to discussing shifts in professional identity, teachers also articulated examples of how co-teaching facilitated and hindered ELs’ language and content learning. As such, this study adds to the literature on ESL teacher identity, as well as provides practical contributions to the growing scholarship on co-teaching as an instructional model.
 

Author

• Greg McClure, Appalachian State University