Inequitable Perspectives: First-Year ESL Teachers' Perspectives on, Pedagogy for, and Dispositions to Teach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

• In Event: 21.035 - What Is the Impact of Teacher Education? Research on the Effectiveness of Completers During Induction

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes
The focus of this presentation will be to explore ESL first-year teachers’ and teacher interns’ perspectives of, and pedagogy for, and dispositions to teach culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students through the lens of critical discourse analysis. Further, the necessity of culturally responsive and dispositional training in teacher preparation programs will be discussed.

Perspectives or Theoretical Framework
This presentation addresses research related to teacher education program completers’ unintentional biases and how early service teachers’ views of their CLD students influence their culturally responsive pedagogy and dispositions to teach diverse learners. As in-depth qualitative instrumental case studies, the researcher explored the relationship among seven, first-year ESL teachers’ perspectives of, pedagogy for, and dispositions to teach CLD students by addressing the following research questions: First, what are the perspectives of non-CLD, first-year English as a second language (ESL) teachers of their CLD students? Second, in what ways do non-CLD, first-year ESL teachers’ perspectives about CLD students relate to their pedagogy? Third, how do first-year, non-CLD ESL teachers re-interpret their perspectives and dispositions after teaching in high CLD population schools?

Methods, Techniques, or Modes Of Inquiry
Through the interpretative qualitative lens of multimodal thematic and critical discourse analysis (CDA), the researcher explored the participants’ perspectives of, pedagogy for, and dispositions to teach CLD students. By applying CDA heuristic building tools to speech acts, the researcher exposed the hidden discourses of privilege that arose during their pre- and post- internship/semester interviews (Gee, 2014; Rogers, 2011; Scollon et al., 2012).

Data Sources, Evidence, Objects or Materials
Iterative data collection and analysis of lesson plans, metaphors, and interview transcripts was conducted. Descriptive, thematic, and in vivo coding of patterns across participant responses revealed the participants’ privileged views, culturally responsive instruction, and dispositions to teach in high CLD settings (Attride-Stirling, 2001; Maxwell, 2013; Luttrell, 2010; Saldaña, 2013). The emergent themes informed the tertiary round of critical discourse analysis (Gee, 2014).

Results or Substantiated Conclusions
Three themes evolved from the multimodal analyses revealing the categories of the Culture of American Public Schools, Difference as Deficit, and Us vs. Them. The categories overlapped with the theoretical frameworks and the research questions. Further, the findings from these instrumental case studies developed into a model of color-blind privilege influenced by Bonilla-Silva (2014) consisting of the deficit perspectives of CLD students, acceptance of segregated instructional practices for CLD learners, and marginalizing dispositions to teach in high CLD populations.

Scientific or Scholarly Significance
The implications for this research suggest the necessity of cultural competence and culturally responsive training in teacher education programs (Kumar & Hamer, 2012). Further, research focused on promoting equitable culturally responsive educational practices and revealing the privileged discourses improves educational outcomes of CLD students (Orozco & Diaz, 2016). Teacher educators and educational researchers must commit to a vision of nurturing pre-service teachers’ cultural competency and to research that facilitates teacher candidates’ re-conceptualization of their perspectives of, pedagogy for, and dispositions to teach CLD students (Hagelskamp & DiStasi, 2012; Nieto, 1994; 2009; 2010).

Author

• Judith Helen Collazo, University of South Carolina - Aiken