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Interrupting Teachers' Assumptions And Beliefs About English Learners Using Culturally Relevant Literature And Poetry Circles, Aimee Papola-Ellis, Amy J. Heineke

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

Although classrooms across the United States continue to become more diverse, teachers are often underprepared to support the learning of immigrant students and students labeled as English learners (ELs). In the current investigation, we turn toward literature discussion using bilingual poetry with teachers to learn how participants recognize their assumptions and beliefs related to language and culture. In this phenomenological study framed with sociocultural and transactional theories, we present data related to teachers’ discussions of one bilingual poetry picture book. We share findings related to teachers’ understandings about their own assumptions, as well as personal connections to challenge those assumptions. …

Teachers' Discourse On English Language Learners: Cultural Models Of Language And Learning, Amy Heineke

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This qualitative case study explores teacher learning about English language learners (ELLs) in a small-group, school-based context at an urban elementary school inArizona. Sociocultural perspectives on teacher learning guided the analysis of teachers’ participation in a teacher study group over six months. The teacher study group aimed to support educators of ELLs at a time of new language policy implementation, which required ELLs to enroll in an English language development (ELD) classroom for four hours of skill-based English language instruction.

In the first semester of language policy implementation, I collected discursive data that showcased the social interaction of teachers and …