Little research has been conducted in the United States to explore male motivation to learn Spanish. In response, we conducted a study to investigate gender differences in motivation to learn Spanish among students in a southeastern United States high school. Building upon Gardner's (1985) influential model of second language (L2) motivation, we employed a mixed methodology to investigate gender differences in motivational factors. Sixty students studying Level 1 Spanish completed a questionnaire. We further explored the findings of the questionnaires in interviews. Although the results indicated that the boys perceived themselves to be less motivated than their female peers, gender differences were less dramatic than in previous studies. The study's results also suggest that males and females have opposing preferences with respect to L2 classroom management.

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School districts in the U.S. are increasingly calling on content area and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers to work together to plan and deliver instruction in classrooms with linguistically diverse students. Such programming presumes, however, that collaborative teaching dynamics are unproblematic. The aim of this article is to examine ESL and content area coteaching dyads at an urban high school in the U.S. southeast. Data were drawn from a year-long qualitative study of these classrooms and were analyzed using sociocultural perspectives on learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Lave, 1998). Findings highlight structural factors that inhibit the development of positive co-teaching relationships, including top-down decision-making, inadequate training for co-teaching, and lack of time for co-planning. Positive relationships were formed on the basis of shared personal and pedagogical visions, flexibility and adaptability. In addition to recommendations for school-level changes, implications of this study center on the need to prepare teacher candidates for collaborative teaching through cross-disciplinary coursework that includes opportunities to practice and reflect on co-teaching.

Background: As diverse communities continue to be targets of racism and anti-immigrant sentiments permeate current political discourse, the need to prepare a teaching force that understands immigrant children and their families continues to be a critical priority. Purpose: This study explored the ways in which one digital storytelling project that required 20 clinical hours working with English learners (ELs) engaged preservice teachers in learning about immigrant issues. Methodology/Approach: Data in the form of critical reflections, digital storytelling video transcripts, and archival data were collected from undergraduate teacher education candidates over three semesters. Narrative data from participants were analyzed using thematic narrative analysis. Findings/Conclusions: The findings of the study are organized into themes that included enriching experience, transformed attitudes, and stories of resilience. The results showed the ways that preservice teachers’ dispositions about immigration were challenged and how much their understanding of the experiences of ELs was deepened through the experience. Implications: This study offers insight for teacher education programs and shows how experiential pedagogical tools such as digital storytelling and authentic clinical experiences can challenge existing and problematic beliefs and assumptions, helping to build a cadre of teacher advocates of immigrant children.

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