Relational mentoring and teacher motivation in an english as a second language master’s program: a five-year study in the context of cohorts and professional learning communities

ABSTRACT

To understand the role of mentoring more clearly as an incentive for teachers to complete a graduate degree, faculty members examined motivators for in-service teachers to complete a Master of Arts in Education (MA) program in English as a Second Language (ESL) at a public research university (RU) in the southeastern United States (U.S.). In this qualitative five-year study, we analyzed focus groups of in-service teachers from three public school districts in the southeastern United States who participated in cohorts on effective English learner instruction. Findings suggest that increased teacher completion rates relate to motivators associated with relational mentoring nested within the systemic support structure of cohorts and distinctive social network of professional learning communities (PLCs). Our study contributes to research literature by describing how relational mentoring, when nurtured through faculty as well as within cohorts and PLCs, supported teachers in completing an ESL master’s degree.

KEYWORDS:

• Relational mentoring
• teacher motivation
• faculty

Author note

Data collection was conducted with funding from the Office of English Language Acquisition, United States Department of Education, for the implementation of National Professional Development grants: T365Z120046 (Principal Investigators, Julia Austin, and Josephine Prado), T365Z120050 (Principal Investigator, Susan Spezzini), and T365Z120051 (Principal Investigator, Susan Spezzini).

Richard Littleton was the evaluator who collected the data. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Jennifer Greer provided editing support. We thank Dr. Richard Littleton and Dr. Jennifer Greer for their generous help with this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Josephine Prado

Josephine Prado, PhD, is Assistant Professor of English Learner Education in the School of Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research centers on advocating for English learners, and on mentoring within teacher education.

Jenna Lachenaye

Jenna LaChenaye, PhD, is Associate Professor of Educational Research in the School of Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a qualitative and mixed methods methodologist, she focuses on cultural elements of the research process such as collaborative research strategies, deconstruction of the researcher-researched dichotomy, cultural competency, value hierarchies in research and evaluation, and epistemologies of place.

Jenelle Hodges

Jenelle Hodges, PhD, is an adjunct instructor in Instructional Design and Development in the School of Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is Director of virtual learning at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives

Susan Spezzini

Susan Spezzini, PhD, is Professor of English Learner Education in the School of Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham. She directs the ESL teacher education program and conducts research on preparing educators for effectively serving English learners.

Julia Austin

Julia S. Austin, PhD, is an adjunct instructor in the School of Education and in the Graduate School, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Though retired as Director of Education Services (Graduate School), she continues to support the preparation of ESL teachers.