Teacher Positionality Vis-a-vis Latinx English Language Learners : A Mixed-methods Exploration of Identity, Agency and Policy Appropriation
出版項
2020
說明
1 online resource (171 pages)
文字
text
無媒介
computer
成冊
online resource
附註
Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 82-03, Section: A
Advisor: Mackey, Alison
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2020
Includes bibliographical references
Latinx students account for 78% of the English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. public schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2017), while the majority of U.S. public school teachers schools are White, non-Latinx women who grew up speaking English (Haddix, 2017; U.S. Department of Education, 2019). The disparities between this heterogeneous student population and homogenous teaching force, combined with research showing that teachers in general are not prepared to address issues concerning Latinx students (Busto Flores, Hernandez Sheets, Riojas Clark, 2011; Ramirez, 2016) and the persistence of support and achievement gaps between White and Latinx students (Lavandez & Colon-Muniz, 2018; Hernandez, 2018) point to the need for a deeper understanding of the beliefs and practices of teachers of Latinx ELLs. This dissertation utilized a mixed-methods design combining qualitative small story research with a questionnaire to explore the connections across teachers' identities, agency, and advocacy in relation to their Latinx English language learners and the language policies at play in public high schools. Findings showed that facets of teachers' identities including teaching experience, travel, education, linguistic repertoire, and family ties are all intertwined with the ways teachers position themselves toward and report advocating for Latinx ELLs in U.S. public high schools. Findings also showed that teachers have very different stances toward what it means to be a good teacher, suggesting that teachers who believe they are acting in the best interest of their students may be harming them by, for example, having lower expectations of them (Lavadenz & Colon-Muniz, 2018) or reproducing raciolinguistic discourses such as "Spanish is the past, English is the future" (Flores, Lewis, & Phuong, 2018). Together, these findings hold relevance for researchers, teachers, school administrators, and educational policymakers at all levels and suggest the need for antiracist, decolonizing research on Latinx ELLs and their teachers (Flores, 2017; Motha, 2020), for critical teacher education that prepares current and pre-service teachers to address the needs of a growing population of Latinx students (Ramirez, Faltis, & de Jong, 2018; Anya, 2020), and for the recruitment and retention of Latinx teachers and teachers of color (Haddix, 2010; Lavadenz & Colon-Muniz, 2018)
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2021
