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ESL teachers and their work: A study based on interviews conducted with teachers of English as a Second Language

Sarah Parmelee Young, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

The study explores the experience of teaching English as a second language (ESL) from the teacher's vantage point. Twenty-two participants were selected from four levels of Massachusetts educational institution: elementary school, middle and secondary school, community college and four-year college or university. Three tape-recorded interviews, each lasting ninety minutes, were conducted with each participant and later transcribed. Material was presented in the form of profiles composed in the words of the participants and thematic chapters. The study revealed sources of strength that participants found in their work and obstacles that confronted them. They gained strength from their ability to respond to the needs of their students and from drawing on a variety of resources in order to do this. The participants' programs were peripheral to their institutions. Problems centered on meshing with the mainstream, scheduling, employment conditions and credit for ESL courses. The participants had conflicting attitudes of support toward their sponsoring programs. Many study participants combined the work of ESL teaching with administrative and programmatic responsibilities. Within the classroom they faced specific problems such as the teaching of disparate student groups and the need to enable students to meet institutional standards in writing. The ESL classroom provided a protected environment. ESL teaching is done predominantly by women. Gender was a factor in classroom roles. Issues of gender affected both participants and their students. Male perspectives were briefly explored, including those of a teacher who was gay. Conclusions were that professionalism for ESL teachers will be enhanced by the encouragement of certification standards, teacher education, and scholarly work. Traditional notions of professionalism need to be broadened, however, to incorporate elements of caregiving in language teaching and wholistic view of experience that were apparent in the participants' stories. Professionalism will be hindered by societal unwillingness to grant that status to work done primarily by women. Material support and the involvement of mainstream teachers are important to the success of ESL teaching in educational institutions.

Subject Area

Language arts

Recommended Citation

Young, Sarah Parmelee, "ESL teachers and their work: A study based on interviews conducted with teachers of English as a Second Language" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9035421.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9035421

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