Uninvited Guests: The Influence of Teachers' Roles and Pedagogies on the Positioning of English Language Learners in the Regular Classroom

• Published in: American educational research journal Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 495 - 522
• Main Author: Yoon, Bogum
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.06.2008; American Educational Research Association
• Subjects: Adolescents; Case Studies; Classroom Environment; Classroom interaction; Classroom observations; Classrooms; Culture; English (Second Language); English as a second language; English language; English Language Learners; English teachers; Group Dynamics; Immigrant students; Language Acquisition; Language instruction; Language teachers; Learning; Learning Strategies; Linguistics; Mainstreaming; Middle School Students; Middle School Teachers; Participation; Positioning theory; Power; Qualitative research; Roles; Second Language Learning; Student Participation; Studies; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Role; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Teaching, Learning, and Human Development; Urban areas; Urban schools; Vocabulary development; bilingual/bicultural; development; teacher education; middle schools; adolescence; qualitative research; mainstreaming
• ISSN: 0002-8312; 1935-1011
• DOI: 10.3102/0002831208316200

Grounded in positioning theory, this study examined regular classroom teachers' views of their roles with regard to English language learners (ELLs) and the relationship between their teaching approaches and the students' reactions and positioning of themselves in the classroom. Findings suggest that the teachers' views of their roles varied based on their positioning of themselves as teachers for all students, as teachers for regular education students, or as teachers for a single subject. The teachers' different approaches were related to the ELLs' different levels of participation and their positioning of themselves as powerful or powerless students. The study breaks important ground in our understanding of the complex interactional classroom dynamics that influence the teaching and learning of ELLs.