Content Area Teachers' Strategies to Work With Diverse Learners: An Israel-U.S. Comparison Study, Using Focus Group Interviews

• In Event: Effective Teachers' Communicative Strategies When Working With Linguistically Diverse Learners

Abstract

Teachers in the US face increasingly greater challenges in supporting students’ English language and literacy development, as well as academic achievement in subject areas. Israeli society is multicultural and multilingual. The Arab educational system is different and autonomous from the Jewish system. Arab Israeli teachers face a challenge in supporting basic skills of their students who are required to learn in Standard Arabic in all content areas learned in school. We conducted focus group in-person interviews in the US and Israel to examine (a) how elementary content teachers use and modify instructional strategies for second language learners and (b) what additional knowledge, skills, and resources about second language learners they need to improve their instruction. The recordings of the focus group were transcribed and analyzed for recurrent patterns and emerging themes. Findings were compared for similarities, differences, and/or unique and universal features.

Authors

• Vered Vaknin-Nusbaum, Western Galilee College

• Geraldine Mongillo, William Paterson University