Faculty and Staff Perspectives of and Responses to Community College English Learners' Engagement

• In Event: Community Colleges and English Learners: Perspectives on Transfer, Structure, and Equity

Abstract

Millions of English learners across the United States enroll at community colleges (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2017), often due to relatively low tuition rates and academic English instruction and support (i.e., ESL and development English courses) (Kanno, 2018). Prior research (Núñez & Sparks, 2012) has indicated that CCELs have high educational aspirations, with many intending to transfer to four-year institutions in order to complete a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In order to support CCELs and help them maintain progress toward their educational aspirations (such as transfer), college staff must understand CCELs’ learning needs and goals. Engagement, or the interaction between students and various components of institutions, has traditionally been used as a means by faculty and staff to bolster student success. Recent research, however, has shown that CCELs engage differently than native-English speaking students (Callahan et al., 2021). Specifically, CCELs more often participated in academic opportunities, such discussions about coursework and research with faculty, than social activities, such as conversations with peers. These distinct forms of engagement prompt the following questions: How do community college faculty and staff support CCEL engagement and their intentions to transfer to four-year institutions? To answer this question, I used a qualitative case study approach (Yin, 2014), drawing upon interviews with 13 faculty and staff at a large, urban community college in Texas. Participants’ roles related to CCELs’ success and included: ESL faculty, developmental English faculty, student success deans, and international student advisors. I analyzed the discourse from interviews with participants, drawing upon Bucholtz and Hall’s (2005) conceptualization of identity: that it is a performance created through social acts and positioning of a person in relation to others and may be negotiated through similarities (or alignment) and/or differences between speakers.
Findings indicated that CCELs experienced cultural mismatch, or perceived differences between themselves and the institution and/or others at the college. In particular, faculty noticed that CCELs has difficulty grasping class readings that focused on American literature and history. Scott, an ESL instructor and department chair, shared that CCELs’ most significant challenge after transitioning from ESL and/or developmental English courses to college-level composition courses is often the text assigned for the course, including the Norton reader. As a result, CCELs were described as exerting additional effort than their English-speaking, American-born peers on pedagogical activities. Additionally, although faculty members understood the difficulties that CCELs faced while reading American-centric texts, they often referred students to the tutoring or writing centers available on campus to help them work through their issues grasping the text, rather than working directly with students or amending their course curriculum. The extra effort CCELs displayed helped them to construct an identity of “definitely not slackers,” according to Paula, a dean of student success.
This study has implications for how researchers and practitioners understand, operationalize, and communicate engagement. Opportunities for learning and development may focus on how faculty and staff can support CCELs through culturally relevant practices and pedagogy (including through asset-based approaches).

Author

• Catherine Hartman, University of South Carolina - Columbia