<p> An estimated 44% of secondary school English Learners (ELs) are immigrants. Some arrive in the United States with a rigorous academic education and often excel beyond most native-born students while others arrive without any formal education or having missed years of schooling. This second subpopulation of ELs is called students with interrupted or limited formal education or SLIFE. These learners have to work harder than their native English-speaking peers and even harder than their more literate EL peers to meet the same accountability goals because these students need learn a new language, develop literacy skills in the new language, and also master content area standards simultaneously. The problem that was addressed was that teachers&rsquo; low expectations and subsequent differential treatment of SLIFE may contribute to the lower graduation rates and achievement gap and between SLIFE, other ELs, and mainstream English-speaking students. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine high school content teachers&rsquo; perceptions of and expectations for their students who are classified as SLIFE. Participants are high school teachers in one school district in the Southeastern United States. Data were gathered through face-to-face interviews. The findings showed the difficulties faced by teachers trying to support SLIFE students in mainstream content area courses, but also revealed the willingness these teachers demonstrate to do whatever it takes to help all of their students. The data expressed a deep desire these teachers feel to be better equipped. Research is needed to determine what supports, research, and training experiences and efficacy are needed for planning and delivering instruction to their SLIFE students with the goal of both academic success and a positive acculturation experience. Further research is also needed to determine what, if any, institutional barriers exist and what can be done to remove them so that the teachers&rsquo; efforts will be facilitated, not hindered.</p><p>

In July of 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that Massachusetts had violated the civil rights of its English Language Learners (ELLs) by placing them in classes with inadequately prepared teachers. Massachusetts is the contextual background for this study but it also serves as an example of the challenges across the U.S. in preparing teachers to meet the diverse needs of the growing population of ELLs within a national context of increasingly standardized curriculum and testing. The U.S. Secretary of Education, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, policy makers, teacher educators, and academics are all looking to educational research for answers to the current challenges. There are many answers or approaches coming from multiple discourses of educational research. However, as has been demonstrated in Massachusetts, research-based approaches to educational challenges are not always successful. More needs to be understood about how these approaches are actually taken up in classrooms. Unfortunately, there is limited research about teachers’ understandings and uses of different discourses of research. In this dissertation I have explored how two urban ESL teachers engaged with research at different stages of their professional development. The questions that guide this study focused on how the teachers made meaning of research and enacted research during the three stages of the study: their master’s program, their ESL practicum and a site visit two years after graduation. I conducted two longitudinal case studies drawing on constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006). Building on the findings from my literature review of ESL teachers’ engagement with research I collected and analyzed data from the three stages mentioned above over a five-year period. Multiple phases of analysis included critical incident analysis (Angelides, 2001), and text analysis (Fairclough, 1992; 2003; Janks, 2005). The findings of this study show that while the teachers engaged in multiple ways with research, certain types and discourses of research discouraged teachers from meeting the needs of their students. The teachers’ engagement with research as praxis (Lather, 1986) was complex but entailed change-enhancing engagement with theory, practice, and action that not only met students’ needs, but promoted socially just teaching.

This study focuses on the education of students who have been adopted internationally and are now learning English in school. Teachers typically have little training for—or experience with—working with these learners. Largely an unstudied area, this dissertation aims to shed light on how teachers develop teaching practices for this population. The present study takes as its theoretical framework a sociocultural perspective on second language acquisition (Lantolf 2000), a social semiotic approach to language (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004), and a critical discourse analysis perspective (Fairclough 1992). I specifically examine the literacy practices (Barton 2001, Gee 2008, Street 1995) of adopted Ethiopian students' teachers with attention to student identity, agency, and literacy development (Dyson 1993, Ibrahim 1999, Luke and Freebody 2000, New London Group 2000, Peirce 1995). During an eight-month period of ethnographic fieldwork (Emihovich 1989) I researched how white, English-speaking teachers and other school staff in three Vermont schools discursively constructed their Ethiopian students. I endeavored to examine how faculty assumptions about students shaped classroom literacy practices, implicating student identity and learning (Harklau 2000, Hawkins 2005, McKay and Wong 1996, Norton 1997, Thesen 1997, Toohey 1998, Willett 1995). Analysis reveals that teachers and other faculty drew on culturally dominant discourses about language, ethnicity, race, class, and health in developing understandings about their adopted students. While articulating the best of intentions toward their Ethiopian learners, teachers unknowingly took up assimilationist, colonialist, “model minority,” classist, and medicalized perspectives about their students that, in turn, informed their educational decision-making. In other words, faculty members positioned adopted Ethiopian learners in ways that constructed them as certain kinds of students (Gee 2008), and, based on those representations, teachers structured literacy activities that afforded them differential learning opportunities. I discuss at length the implications of this study for public education and research. There is a need for teachers and other school professionals to assume perspectives on learning grounded in theories of power, identity, and a contextual understanding of language. Education reform that fosters professional collaboration within schools is necessary. Finally, future education research from sociocultural and critical perspectives focusing on internationally adopted students is warranted.

<p> Research indicates a need for teacher education programs which include embedded computer assisted language learning (CALL) to support teachers&rsquo; technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) of how to employ technology in classroom settings. Researchers also indicate a need to better understand the knowledge-base of language teacher education (LTE), including a teacher&rsquo;s possible 40 year career through ever changing technology. </p><p> This mixed-method case study examines the use of iPads by four teachers, who represent maximum variation in their teaching and technology experience, in two mostly homogenous schools. The study looks specifically at how teachers&rsquo; perceptions of 1) teaching, 2) technology, 3) using technology and 4) their students shape the way they use iPads with English language learners. It also examines what supports facilitate the use of iPads for instructional purposes in second language classrooms. </p><p> I focus on the use of iPads in a one-to-one implementation in a technologically embedded context because iPads are a relatively new innovation in classrooms, with the potential of changing instruction. Such changes may contribute to the challenges and benefits of being an effective teacher in the English language teaching (ELT) classroom. Research on the use of iPads in classrooms has been previously limited to mostly suggestions for use and has given little guidance in how this disruption will assist and challenge teachers. </p><p> TPACK is used as a powerful construct based in a reconceptualization of the language teacher education (LTE) knowledge-base, indicating influences of context, teachers and their perceptions, identity and agency and activities in the classroom. These factors suggest ways which classroom technology and teacher, student, administrative and contextual influences may mediate the activities of teaching and learning in the classroom. </p><p> The data show a correlation between teachers&rsquo; practices with iPads and their previous experiences using technology in the classroom. Teacher groupings demonstrated differences in teaching based on their experience using technology and teaching. Schools showed differences only in terms of some choices made by the administration. Students&rsquo; effects on the use of iPads is minimal, except for instances of how student behavior affected the classroom.</p><p>

Effective ELL teaching and learning is profoundly influenced by the teachers’ personal experiences and personalities (Farrell, 2016), their experience as language learners as well as language teachers (Farrell, 2007), and their beliefs about learning and teaching a second language (Farrell, 2015; Farrell & Ives, 2015). This study honored and examined in-depth the often-discounted stories/reflective narratives of our teachers. This paper reports a qualitative cases study that explores three veteran teacher’s reflection on their personal and professional experiences with ELLs for self-discovery over years (Cirocki & Farrell, 2017) so that they can further reflect for their future actions with ELLs (Burns & Bulman, 2000; Farrell, 2007; Farrell & Vos, 2018). Data analysis revealed the teachers’ different strengths and needs in working with ELLs. Four major dimensions (language, culture, culturally and linguistically sensitive pedagogy, and collaborative community) were identified as critical to effective teaching of ELLs and preparation of second language teachers.

Despite claims that the use of corpus tools can have a major impact in language classrooms (e.g., Conrad, 2000, 2004; Davies, 2004; O'Keefe, McCarthy, & Carter, 2007; Sinclair, 2004b; Tsui, 2004), many language teachers express apparent apathy or even resistance towards adding corpus tools to their repertoire (Cortes, 2013b). This study examines from a teacher cognition perspective (Borg, 2006) how three EAP (English for Academic Purposes) writing teachers identified their most pressing needs and considered possible ways that corpus tools might address those needs. After having an individualized corpus working session, each teacher put into practice one or more corpus tools to address self-identified needs in their writing classes. The teachers reflected on the process across a series of interviews and in a stimulated recall session, which were analyzed using qualitative research methods. Each teacher discussed the degree to which the lesson met her objectives, and considered how she might use such corpus tools in the future, as one component in the development of her teaching beliefs, knowledge base, and practices. Through thematic analysis of the interviews and the individualized corpus working sessions, themes emerged that tell the story of these three teachers as they moved through this process, relating to the issues of time, student engagement, material analysis, selection and design, issues related to corpus tools, language, institutional factors, and collaboration. A new area of specialization on the pedagogical uses of corpus tools is discussed, based on the results of the three cases. Implications for researchers, material designers, corpus tools specialists, teacher educators, administrators and teachers are considered.

Submitted by Mariana da Silva Cassemiro null (ma.cassemiro@gmail.com) on 2018-04-05T22:37:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE VOLUME FINAL_Mariana Cassemiro.pdf: 2065397 bytes, checksum: 77a5727a6184b672736d2db4f6796d02 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Elza Mitiko Sato null (elzasato@ibilce.unesp.br) on 2018-04-06T17:45:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 cassemiro_ms_dr_sjrp.pdf: 2065397 bytes, checksum: 77a5727a6184b672736d2db4f6796d02 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-06T17:45:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 cassemiro_ms_dr_sjrp.pdf: 2065397 bytes, checksum: 77a5727a6184b672736d2db4f6796d02 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Esta pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa e base etnográfica, objetiva investigar a (co) construção de conhecimentos teórico-práticos na formação inicial de professores de língua inglesa no norte do Brasil a partir de uma perspectiva sociocultural, conforme proposta por, principalmente, Johnson (2009), Vieira-Abrahão (2012), Johnson e Golombek (2011, 2016) e Lantolf e Poehner (2014), respondendo à grande pergunta de pesquisa: Como se dá a (co) construção de conhecimentos teórico-práticos na formação inicial de professores de inglês em uma universidade pública no norte do Brasil?. Outras três questões orientaram o desenvolvimento desta investigação: (1) Quais conceitos cotidianos e científicos de língua, ensino e aprendizagem são apresentados pelos alunos-professores antes de cursarem a disciplina de Metodologia I?; (2) Quais conceitos científicos de língua, ensino e aprendizagem são introduzidos e de que modo são trabalhados nas disciplinas de Metodologia I e II e Estágio I e II?; (3) Quais conceitos cotidianos e científicos de língua, ensino e aprendizagem podem ser inferidos das práticas e dos discursos dos alunos-professores por ocasião dos estágios supervisionados e como esses conceitos se relacionam aos conceitos científicos introduzidos nas disciplinas de Metodologia I e II e Estágio I e II? . Os instrumentos de coleta e geração de dados utilizados foram gravações de aulas em áudio, diários da pesquisadora, questionários, sessões de feedback, entrevistas e relatórios de estágio. Os resultados mostraram que a maioria dos conceitos de língua, ensino e aprendizagem apresentados pelos futuros professores refere-se a concepções tradicionais. Os conceitos científicos de língua, ensino e aprendizagem introduzidos no curso de formação são oriundos dos paradigmas estrutural e comunicativo de ensino de línguas estrangeiras e foram diretamente transmitidos aos alunos-professores. No estágio supervisionado, os conceitos que sobressaíram possivelmente dizem respeito aos adquiridos por meio da aprendizagem de observação, com pouca influência dos conceitos introduzidos no curso de formação. / This ethnographic and qualitative research study aims at investigating the (co) construction of teacher knowledge in initial teacher education in the north of Brazil from a sociocultural perspective as proposed mainly by Johnson (2009),Vieira-Abrahão (2012), Johnson and Golombek (2011, 2016) and Lantolf and Poehner (2014), answering the major research question: How does the (co) construction of teacher knowledge occur in initial teacher education in the north of Brazil?. Three other questions oriented the development of this investigation: (1) What language, teaching and learning everyday and scientific concepts are held by teacher-learners before taking Metodologia I? (2) What language, teaching and learning scientific concepts are introduced and how are they worked in Metodologia I and II and Estágio I and II?; (3) What language, teaching and learning everyday and scientific concepts can be inferred from the teacher-learners’ practices and discourses at internship and how are these concepts related to the scientific ones introduced in Metodologia I and II and Estágio I and II? The instruments used to collect data were audio class recordings, researcher’s diaries, questionnaires, feedback sessions, interviews and internship reports. The results showed that most language, teaching and learning concepts held by the future English teachers refer to traditional conceptions. The language, teaching and learning scientific concepts introduced in the teacher education program came from structural and communicative paradigms in the second language teaching framework and were directly transmitted to teacher-learners. At internship the inferred concepts are likely to refer to the ones acquired through apprenticeship of observation, with little influence from the ones introduced in the teacher education program.

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Researchers have explored second language (L2) teachers' knowledge focusing not only on their prior language learning experience, previous L2 teacher education, and teaching practices, but also on specific curricular areas, such as teaching L2 grammar, teaching L2 reading, and teaching L2 writing. This line of research has contributed to L2 teacher education, particularly how to develop an effective knowledge base for teacher candidates. This dissertation was conducted to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' knowledge of vocabulary instruction. Specifically, employing three qualitative techniques for data collection (i.e., interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated recall), the study examined seven Chinese EFL university teachers'knowledge of vocabulary instruction from four dimensions: their beliefs about vocabulary learning, their understandings about vocabulary teaching, the relationship between their knowledge of vocabulary instruction and vocabulary teaching practices, and the sources of their knowledge about vocabulary instruction. The findings of the study indicate that Chinese EFL teachers have well-developed content knowledge of EFL vocabulary. They also have well-established belief systems about how to learn and teach vocabulary. Moreover, their beliefs about vocabulary teaching tend to be consistent with their vocabulary teaching practices though some inconsistencies have been identified as well. It was also found that Chinese EFL teachers¡¯ knowledge of vocabulary instruction is derived from a variety of sources, of which formal EFL education and teaching practices are considered as the two most influential. EFL teachers' individual differences were also identified to impact their beliefs about vocabulary instruction. This dissertation has at least three potential contributions. As one of the first attempts to investigate teacher knowledge of vocabulary instruction in the field of L2 teacher education, this research expands studies on L2 teachers' knowledge base. It also provides information about L2 teachers' knowledge in one less studied context, i.e., Chinese EFL vocabulary teaching. Finally, the use of observations, interviews, and stimulated recall to collect data in this study serves as an impetus for enriching techniques to examine Chinese EFL teacher knowledge.

The emergence of online learning environments and advances in web-based technologies enable teachers to interact and exchange ideas and experiences in online communities. However, these rapid technological advances also cause such online communities to disband quickly, before they have the opportunity to evolve into a community of practice, in which a group of teachers build a shared history, a shared repertoire of resources and activities, and mutually engage in collaborative professional development, over time. Moreover, rapid advances in technology necessitate on-going collaboration among teachers so that they develop meaningful technology integration practice. While such collaborations have taken place in face-to-face settings, how this might be achieved through participation in an online teacher community of practice has been under-researched. Therefore, the present study examines one long-standing, globally-distributed, online community of practice created by English language teachers, called "Webheads in Action", whose shared domain of interest centers on exploring the pedagogical uses of web-based technologies in English language teaching. The study employs netnography, or online ethnography, in which the researcher collects data through participant observation, interviews, and archiving, all of which is conducted completely online. The aim of this study was to understand the broader culture of learning, collaboration, and mentoring in this online language teacher community by exploring and analyzing its shared repertoire of resources, and activities; ways members engage in the collective development of this technology integration practice; and the role of participation in such an online community of practice on developing language teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge when designing instruction. The data for this study comes from various sources of data collected through online participant observation in this community's activities over a year, reflective observational fieldnotes, online interviews, and archived data. Throughout my online fieldwork, I participated in this online community's activities both synchronously and asynchronously. At the same time, I took reflective observational fieldnotes of my participation and observations during these activities, as well as community's spaces and email communications. As for archival data, I archived the email communication that occurred during my time in the field, as well as screenshots of the community spaces and platforms. I conducted in-depth interviews with four key people in this community in order to better understand the organization and background of this community and its activities, and interviewed five individual members in order to learn about their stories with and as Webheads. Through qualitative data analysis procedures, namely coding, categorizing and finding themes, the study provides a rich and thick description as well as an analysis of this community and its culture in the light of my experiences and observations, as well as the experiences of others. The study reveals insights as to the culture of teacher learning in an online community of practice and the mediation of technological pedagogical content knowledge in online communities of practice. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also presented, as well as an in-depth discussion of how ethnographic fieldwork practices are adapted in netnography with online communities of practice.