Study Reveals Challenges, Hopes About Teaching ELLs

By Michelle Adam, ELL Outlook™ Staff Writer

"We're frustrated with the fact that everyone talks about teachers and not with teachers," said Patricia Gándara, professor in the School of Education at the University of California at Davis and principal investigator of an unprecedented report that compiles interviews with 5,300 teachers of English language learners (ELLs). "Everyone has an expert opinion, but people don't ask teachers. Teachers are the critical component. If we really want to improve the education of English learners [ELs], we need to look at how teachers are going to do this."

Gándara, one of our country's top ELL researchers, has been working around the clock to address what she calls the major issue of educating ELLs in California. "It is a huge issue here in California. About 1.6 million kids-a third of all ELs in the country-are here. And by 2010, more than 50 percent of the school age population will be Latino [many of whom are ELs]," she said.

The report, entitled "Listening to the Voices of California's Teachers of English Learners" and sponsored by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, is a compilation of the challenges and experiences that thousands of ELL teachers in California face every day in the classroom. Gándara and her collaborative research teams at Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and the University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute planned to release the report to the media earlier this month, while working with the California legislature to transform research into concrete policy that will address the real needs of ELL teachers.

"I'm tired of questions regarding methodology, whether we should use English-only methods versus other teaching methods," said Gándara. "I believe we have made a big mistake in going to an English-only policy. Students will pay the price, but the decision has been made. Now we want to see what it is that teachers need."

The study was initially conducted by online surveys, but researchers soon discovered that teachers were not as technologically equipped as expected. Therefore, they created paper and pencil surveys, which, according to Gándara, received "huge responses." This process was followed up with four focus groups of teachers and administrators that gathered throughout California to discuss and analyze the survey responses.

According to Gándara, one of the greatest challenges elementary and secondary ELL teachers expressed was poor communication among students, teachers, parents, and the community. Although this isn't a new challenge, for Gándara it was important to hear this directly from teachers, whose needs have been ignored all too often.

"Teachers are coming back to us and saying that language is an issue. We've tried to pretend that it doesn't matter, but it clearly does matter. These teachers want the opportunity to communicate with their students in their language," said Gándara. "We've created this fiction that we can go right to English with these kids. The idea was that Proposition 227 would provide a strong English curriculum and in one year these students would learn English. But we have not changed the rate at which the kids are able to transfer into English-only. It takes a certain amount of time."

According to Gándara, the number of ELL teachers trained in basic Spanish decreased after the passage of Proposition 227 in 1998. Some argue that this was because ELL teachers are less interested in learning Spanish, but if the results of the study reveal anything, it is that teachers no longer have the time and energy to learn Spanish because they're required to spend more time adhering to new laws and regulations, explained Gándara.

Another challenge that teachers addressed in the survey and specifically spoke about during the focus groups was the feeling of being overwhelmed. According to Julie Maxwell Jolly, senior researcher of the study and PACE, "For the most part, there were surprisingly low levels of panic and anger expressed. But there were a fair number of responses from people feeling swamped with only one school day to teach English and content while not being able to communicate to their students. Dealing with a variety of students in one classroom [with different levels of English and subject knowledge] was also a real challenge."

She added, "Teachers felt they needed help and wanted better professional development programs. They wanted to conference more with their colleagues and observe other classrooms more. Some talked about the fact that some of their colleagues don't understand what they face in teaching ELLs."

Despite the many frustrations ELL teachers expressed-numerous teachers sent letters and faxes to the research team to air their grievances-Gándara was relieved to learn that teachers hadn't given up hope. "One of the things that impressed me with the data is that there was a lot less whining on the part of teachers than we expected. Teachers were not blaming kids and were a whole lot more open to taking on the challenge of educating ELLs. Most of them indicated that they wanted to do a better job," she said. "I feel somewhat more optimistic in their willingness to take on the challenges. That's heartening because I worry about teachers burning out. "

Teacher burnout is a real concern for Gándara. She believes, "We have set a goal that is completely unattainable for ELLs nationwide. We're asking kids who come to a situation overwhelmingly behind, even beginning with kindergarten, to catch up and learn another language and at a faster rate than others and without extra time. We need to rethink entirely how we do this and we need to hear it from teachers."

This first step-hearing it from teachers-took almost a year's worth of work. As a result, Gándara and her team have provided report recommendations designed to impact policy. "I'm hoping to create some kind of incremental improvement for ELL teaching through legislation," she said.

Gándara wants the state to create a commission that will determine which skills are truly needed as part of the state's ELL teacher credential program, as many teachers felt they were inadequately prepared for the classroom through the current credential program. She hopes the state and schools will refocus their professional development for ELL teachers in order to provide professional development that is more clearly designed and effective for ELL teachers. She also wants California to bring expert educators from Mexico to work with university faculty who are training the future teacher-training faculty.

"In launching this campaign, we hope to create public debate about the fact that 80 percent of all our teachers have these students in their classrooms," said Gándara. "We want to bring public awareness to the voters of California who were convinced that English-only would solve everything."

When asked how the report would be of assistance to the thousands of ELL teachers facing similar issues throughout the country, Gándara concluded, "I'm hoping that teachers will see that they are not alone out there-that others are struggling, too."

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