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The nonnative English-speaking student in the community college developmental English classroom: An ethnographic study
Abstract
As the minority student population in the United States has grown, so has the number of non-native English-speaking students in higher education. However, many of these students are not meeting with success, and they are leaving school, often during their first semester of 'mainstream' classes. This study focused on the developmental English class and examined what happens to students as they leave ESL (English as a Second Language) classes and enter the mainstream of the community college. This ethnographic study used both emic and etic perspectives to show some of the factors that come together to influence participation and engagement of non-native English-speaking students in the developmental English class. It involved an exploration of the theories that have traditionally explained minority student failure in school, as well as a discussion of the importance of interaction to learning. Through ethnographic means, this dissertation has described the experience of teaching and learning in the developmental English classroom, and shows that students need to enter into meaningful interaction with instructors if they are to be successful. Through ethnographic interviewing and participant observation, a picture has emerged of relationships between teachers and students that can be characterized by apprenticing or gatekeeping. Teacher-student relationships can be undermined by Discourse mismatch. Students' primary Discourses are not traditionally valued by society, and they may not be valued in the college. This can cause resistance on the part of students. This study suggests that there are many factors that come together to influence the participation of non-native English speakers in the community college developmental English classroom. These include teacher and student preparation, class atmosphere, the use of contextualization cues, apprenticing or 'hand holding', and the use of content which relates to students' background knowledge. It also suggests that English proficiency may not be the most important factor influencing student participation of non-native English speakers, and recommends that developmental education be reexamined by those in this critical area.
Subject Area
Bilingual education|Teacher education|Multicultural Education|Community college education
Recommended Citation
Kelley, Eileen F, "The nonnative English-speaking student in the community college developmental English classroom: An ethnographic study" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9316679.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9316679