![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
Abstract
This paper explores the perceived professional development needs of inservice teachers of English-language learners (ELLs) from 10 rural and small districts in the USA. The survey instrument that captured responses from 159 elementary and secondary teachers in Texas was primarily quantitative and was based on the state English as a second language (ESL) certification examination. It also included open-ended demographic information on teachers’ backgrounds, and elicited information on challenges in working with ELLs. Demographics of the respondents reflect a typical teaching force in the rural USA: primarily white, English-speaking females with a bachelor’s degree. For many of the teachers, communication with students and their parents was cited as a major challenge. One of the most salient findings occurred in correlations between teachers having taken one or more college courses in ESL and their perceived knowledge of the competencies involved in the ESL examination. This important insight suggests that professional development, in the form of college-level (graduate) courses in ESL, is highly beneficial for mainstream, rural teachers.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) for their financial support of our PD project for secondary rural mathematics and science teachers (T365Z120026); Dr Rudy Rodriguez for his development of the survey instrument; Dr Karen Dunlap for assessing validity of the instrument; and Jacky Kokonya for her survey work and analysis.
Notes
1. We acknowledge the complexities inherent in labels such as Hispanic, but we use terms indicated in the primary literature. For all other cases, we have chosen to use the term Latina/o.