I Don't Belong Here: An Examination of English Learner Students' Help-Seeking Behaviors

• In Event: Raciolinguistic Perspectives on English Learner Classification and Reclassification

Abstract

Identification as EL and reclassification as English proficient are key points in a policy accountability system that is designed to support the academic and linguistic development of emergent bilingual students (Umansky, 2016). Yet, student voice is absent from official policy systems of (re)classification. Decisions about what is best for young people are made by the adults without their consent. This paper analyzes the help-seeking practices of students who felt as if they were misclassified as ELs. This study examines the following research questions: How did students seek help from school-affiliated adults? How did students describe the responses to their help-seeking practices?
This study draws on the analysis of 50 transcripts of in-depth qualitative interviews with US-educated adults who self-identify as being misclassified as ELs and engaged in help-seeking practices with school-affiliated adults (e.g., administrators, classroom teachers, paraprofessionals) to remedy this misclassification. I used emergent process codes (Saldaña, 2013) to examine participants’ descriptions of their help-seeking practices, how schools responded to these practices, and how they made-meaning of school’s responses.

Forty-five participants (90%) reported that they turned to their teachers for help with their misclassification. The remaining five participants (10%) did not attempt to talk to teachers, but sought the assistance of administrators directly. The most common response that participants (43 participants[86%]) described in response to their help-seeking behavior was
dismissal of students’ concerns. This dismissal occurred through two dominant narratives: 1) the classification (and/or resulting academic accommodations) were in the best interest of the student; and 2) the process for addressing misclassification was not in the power of the individual whom the student contacted. In response to this initial dismissal of concerns, participants described repeatedly asking the same teacher/administrator for recourse, waiting to raise their concerns in a different academic year, remaining silent because there was no hope for change, or turning to family for support. On the other hand, seven students (14%) described teachers/administrators listening to students' concerns and advocating on their behalf. Across the 50 students who engaged in some type of help-seeking behavior, only 12 were able to get their placement change. Five of these students had help from teachers/administrators. Interviewees who were racially minoritized and unable to exit the system highlighted the role that their racial identity played in their EL (re)classification.

Adult perspectives about what is best for youth dominate current EL (re)classifications system and research literature (e.g., Estrada & Wang, 2018). This study documents youth’s attempts to make their voices heard in discussions about their own educational trajectory. The findings indicate that even when youth engage in help-seeking behavior, their concerns are dismissed. For students who are racially minoritized, they explicitly acknowledge the role that race plays in how they are understood as English users. Lastly, it speaks to the power of school-affiliated adults to change educational trajectories of students when they listen to young people.

Author

• Maneka Deanna Brooks, Texas State University