Teachers' Take on the Needs of English Learners (ELs) and Teacher Education for Supporting ELs

• In Event: 34.059 - Teacher Education Policies and Linguistic Diversity: An Investigation of Teacher Education for Supporting English Learners

Abstract

Perspectives and Objectives
Teacher educators are central to realizing Ontario’s policy that all future teachers receive training to meet the needs of English Learners (ELs). For in-service teachers, however, the onus for learning how to meet their ELs’ needs is on them; they have not necessarily received training in this new curriculum, but are, nevertheless, faced with a growing population and increasing diversity of ELs in their classrooms. It is expected that they understand what it means to be an EL, what it means to learn English to succeed in school—academically as well as socially—and how to facilitate such success. The objective of this research is to explore the experiences of teachers, curriculum leaders and consultants against the backdrop of current research on teacher education for supporting ELs.

Supporting ELs requires more than “just good teaching” (de Jong, 2005, n.p.). ELs’ success is tied to specific teacher knowledge, attitudes, and pedagogical moves. Previous findings on teachers’ experiences reveal concerns over mentorship of teachers, undervaluing their professional development around ELs, and teachers’ lack of preparedness towards accommodating ELs in mainstream classes (Reeves, 2006; McKinney, 2008; Greenfield, 2013). In this paper, we examine the experiences of language professionals in the classroom and in leadership positions designed to support ELs in Ontario. Our study investigates their perspectives regarding how ELs can best be supported, and what needs to change in teacher education to achieve that goal.

Methods and Participants
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers, curriculum leaders, and consultants who attended the 2018 Celebrating Linguistic Diversity Conference in Toronto as part of their professional development. The interview questions were organized around the following topics: personal, educational, and professional background and experiences; issues faced in supporting ELs; perspectives on the impact of their province’s educational language policies on their practices; and opinions about how best to enable future teachers to develop necessary skills for supporting ELs.

Results
Our results suggest that current mainstream teachers lack specialized training in supporting ELs, and have inadequate programming and resources for ELs. Practitioners lament the disconnect between theory and practice in teacher education programs, and emphasize the need for (future) teachers to acquire practical strategies for supporting ELs, such as through translanguaging and linguistically responsive teaching practices (Lucas & Villegas, 2013). Practical exposure to demonstration classrooms, and placement in schools with a large EL population can provide teacher candidates with tangible skills for supporting ELs. Educators also recommended that teacher candidates can benefit from participation in educator networks such as the ESL Resource Group of Ontario.

Significance
While research on teacher education has addressed the major components of a knowledge base for teacher candidates (de Oliveira & Burke, 2015), the knowledge base for supporting ELs has yet to be connected empirically to the issues practitioners face in supporting ELs, and to the specialized strategies that have proven to be successful in their various contexts. Our study reports actionable evidence addressing this gap.

Authors

• Julie Kerekes, OISE/University of Toronto

• Mama Adobea Nii Owoo, University of Toronto

• Shakina Rajendram, University of Toronto