Content area
Full Text
This study examined the attitudes of high school social studies teachers toward the training they received to teach English language learners (ELLs) in their social studies classrooms. This issue is important because the number of ELLs in American schools increases each year and high school social studies classes are the one place for ELLs to learn important citizenship skills. A mixed-model methodology was employed by surveying all 344 social studies teachers in the school district. One hundred and twenty three surveys were returned to the researcher. Additionally, eight teachers were interviewed to elucidate their attitudes toward mandatory college coursework or district-provided, in-service training for teaching ELLs. Comments from participants indicated deficiencies in the training provided for teachers, both at the university level and from the school district. Furthermore, the teachers with the highest number of ELLs in their classrooms reported the least amount of support from ESOL personnel at their respective schools. The possible results of these attitudes and the efficacy of current policies are discussed.
Submersion isn't working. Training teachers inadequately is not a substitute for supplying ELLs with a comprehensible education
-A high school social studies teacher
Introduction
According to recent U.S. Census data, children of immigrants account for 20% of the population of U.S. schools (Fix and Passel, 2003). While not all children of immigrants are English Language Learners (ELLs), recent data provided by individual states show that many are: 10.3% of U.S. public school students have been identified as ELLs (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition FAQ, 2006). As a result of the large number of ELLs present in K-12 schools, secondary teachers across the nation are experiencing greater numbers of ELLs in their content area classrooms. To help teachers make appropriate instructional accommodations, many school districts have begun requiring training for their secondary content area teachers (Beruhe, 2000). What is not apparent is how this training has affected the efficacy of classroom teachers to teach important content to ELLs. While researchers have devoted considerable effort to studying the perspectives of ELLs when they are immersed in content area classrooms (Cummins 2000, Fu 1995, Harklau 1994, 1999, 2000, Valdés 2001, Walqui 2000), the attitudes of their teachers have not been studied in a commensurate manner.
Background
This study focused on...