The purpose of this the study was to investigate the ways in which teachers are responding to the implementation of Proposition 203, and how they perceive their abilities to meet the needs of the English Language Learner (ELL) students in their classes. The research was conducted in the form of a case study of four teachers nested in the results of a survey given to Kindergarten-third grade teachers throughout a southern Arizona school district. Results of the case study data collection were compared with those from the survey. The data indicates the following four conclusions:1. Implementation of instructional strategies in SEI classes varies, regardless of the endorsement status or experience of the teacher2. Teachers more easily address the needs of less proficient students than they do intermediate level students3. Teachers use of data and resources to support their instruction of ELL students has been uneven4. The influence of multiple reform efforts has had a confounding effect on the implementation of SEI at both the administrative and classroom levels.The results of the study imply that districts will need to conduct consistent training on the implementation of sheltered English instruction and administration will need to follow the training with monitoring and coaching of teachers to ensure that instruction meets the academic and language needs of ELL students.

Thesis advisor: C. Patrick Proctor / With U.S. classrooms increasingly characterized by linguistic diversity, teacher education has come under heightened scrutiny to respond to these realities. Recent shifts in Massachusetts language policy provide an informative example. Federal oversight prompted the state to implement an ambitious initiative requiring teachers to earn an endorsement in Sheltered English Immersion (SEI). The rollout of this initiative coincided with the final years of the state’s English-only education mandate, and the SEI endorsement remains a requirement for teachers today. As a growing body of research highlights the ideological dynamics of language policy, particularly in English-only educational contexts, this dissertation has two overlapping goals: (1) To develop a theoretical framework for the study of monolingual language ideologies in relation to policy interpretation and (2) to apply this framework within a critical policy analysis of the Massachusetts SEI endorsement initiative. This dissertation consists of three papers. Paper 1 puts forth a theoretical framework for studying monolingual language ideologies. Through a historical analysis of U.S. language policies and previous research on language ideologies, this paper demonstrates how dynamics of race and racism overlap with language policy and teacher education in U.S. contexts. Paper 2 is an empirical study of SEI instructors’ roles as policy interpreters within the SEI endorsement initiative. This study documents how 33 SEI course instructors interpreted the SEI endorsement course in ways that reinforced or augmented the state’s design. Paper 3 highlights these instructors’ discourses around the topics of language policy and race. Drawing on poststructural policy analysis, this paper explores the varying degrees to which participants addressed these topics in relation to the course’s emphasis on language pedagogies. Together, these papers offer a framework for the study of language ideologies with implications for language policy, policy interpretation, and teacher education in multilingual contexts. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Two common forms of teaching English to English-language learners are bilingual education and sheltered English immersion. While both programs claim successful second language acquisition, other effects of the programs need to be considered. This research examines one of those effects: self-efficacy, or students' perception that they will be successful or unsuccessful in doing a specific task or acquiring a specific skill. Using archival records and semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions, this qualitative study draws on the work of Bandura (1977, 1986, 1997) to explore differences in self-efficacy between students who have participated for 5 years in a two-way Spanish-English bilingual immersion (TWBE) or an immersion/sheltered English program (SEI) at the same school. Interviews with the parents of the 11 Hispanic students allowed for comparisons of parent satisfaction with the two language programs. Findings indicated that students in both programs are similar in many ways; however there were marked differences between the two groups. Although all of the student participants considered themselves bilingual, those who were in the SEI program cannot read or write the language and use it only for social situations. Furthermore, students who have been in the TWBE program reported using practice, study, and note taking as success strategies in school, while their SEI peers used doing homework and turning it in as a success strategy. Students in TWBE reported having more successes in Spanish while their SEI peers reported struggling more in school and with Spanish. A major finding in parent interviews was that although all the parents expressed the desire that their children know Spanish, only some chose to put their children in the bilingual program. What decision processes parents use to place their children in the programs is unknown. Additionally, parents whose children were in the TWBE program reported that their children had more success experiences with home, friends, and family, the language program and with both Spanish and English. The TWBE parents also indicated that their children had more extended family members who served as models for them because their children can speak and write Spanish and thus have additional contact with extended family.