Abstract:

With the demand of English proficiency continuing to rise globally era, the United States, with its increasing linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) student population, must prepare teachers to meet the unique needs of these students. This study investigated pre-service teachers’ perceptions toward instructional strategies regarding English Language Learners (ELL). Research has suggested that teachers with adequate understanding of effective instructional strategies for LCD students are more likely to engage in appropriate instruction and facilitate students’ learning.

This study set out to find out what instructional strategies preservice teachers perceive to be effective for ELL. The study started with investigating preservice teachers’ overall perceptions toward instructional strategies regarding ELL. Further, the study examined whether a difference exists between Bilingual Generalist (BIL) major and Generalist Early Childhood (GEN) major preservice teachers in their overall perceptions toward instructional strategies regarding ELL. A theory-based survey was administered to 129 subjects for quantitative data collection; subsequently, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 12 participants. The quantitative data was analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics; the qualitative data was analyzed with theory-based themes.

In conclusion, the study found that participants as a whole, were willing to encourage the interaction between students; include students’ home culture in the classroom; promote students’ native language; hold high expectations; incorporate students’ native language in instruction; ask higher order thinking questions; conduct a student-centered classroom; use activities to facilitate interaction; access students’ prior knowledge through instructional conversation; provide visuals and nonverbal cues; scaffold students’ learning; and finally, utilize hands-on activities. Generally speaking, different majors, BIL and GEN, held different views toward instruction for ELL students. Moreover, given the discrepancy in the number of ELL/ESL related courses taken, BIL majors and GEN majors had different opinions regarding whether teachers should hold high expectations; include students’ native language in instruction; ask higher order thinking questions; use visuals; and finally, provide comprehensible input. All in all, BIL majors and GEN majors tended to have similar opinions, with the exception that BIL majors, given adequate ELL/ESL training and linguistic skills in students’ first language, were stronger in including ELL students’ native language in the instruction. Implications of the results for teacher preparation programs are discussed.

Keywords:

English Language Learners (ELL), teacher preparation, instructional strategies.