Analyzing the Language of Struggle in Search of Hope for Teachers

Abstract

This article presents a detailed case study analysis of oral and written language expressed by Jacqueline Meyer, a teacher of elementary English Language Learners (ELL), as she struggled to navigate the current political terrain with her students. Ms. Meyer's district adopted commercial materials and increased the amount and substance of testing for her students, thereby increasing the likelihood that her students would be viewed from a deficit point of view. Ms. Meyer was selected for an in-depth case study because in her words we heard the history of ELL marginalization and the local and federal mandates of NCLB that challenged the core of her beliefs, but we also saw her struggle to maintain her own (and her students') identities. Content, rhetorical, and critical discourse analyses of her talk revealed her teaching identity as a theoretician who speaks with an "art-full" and strategic voice. The rhetorical analysis illuminated Ms. Meyer's skill with persuasive language that evoked emotion, and the critical discourse analysis illuminated her ability to strategically use language to shift power and positioning. Together, these tools enabled us to see how she effectively used language to improvise a persuasive and poetic argument and to operate strategically in challenging times.

ESOL Teachers as Advocates: An Important Role?

“…At the school level, advocates for ELLs may monitor and challenge instances of injustice and suggest alternative courses of action (Athanases & de Oliveira, ). They may talk to general education teachers about ELL issues (Teemant & Giraldo, ) or raise these issues with administrators, all the while using language strategically so as not to disrupt communication or collegial relationships (Schmidt & Whitmore, ). In the Standards, advocacy actions are included at the school level and also go beyond, expecting that “candidates work collaboratively with school staff and the community to improve the learning environment, provide support, and advocate for ELLs and their families” (TESOL, , p. 69; emphasis added).…”

“…However, to date, limited research exists on views of advocacy among teachers of English as a second language (ESL), English to speakers of other languages (ESOL), and English as a foreign language (EFL) and how they advocate. In one exception, Schmidt and Whitmore () provide insight into one elementary school ESOL teacher's identity transformation as she discovers the importance of advocacy for ELLs. The authors describe how this teacher advocates by critically examining assessment policies, speaking to her colleagues, and writing a guest editorial in her local newspaper about ELL issues.…”

Critical Discourse Analysis in Literacy Education: A Review of the Literature

“…The key findings in the set of LED studies that drew on written texts ( N = 40) tended to coalesce around seven major themes, with a few of the studies generating findings with overlapping themes. These key themes included issues of social justice or equity relating to education in general or to teaching and learning among youths and adult learners, with the following categories of findings: Learning across social differences (Fernsten, ; Gebhard et al., ; Hammond, ; Hashimoto, ; Johnson, , ; Marshall & Toohey, ; Powell, ; Schieble, ) Transformations in learner identity (Chen, ; Fernsten, , ; Goulah, ; Menard‐Warwick & Palmer, ; R. Rogers, ; Schmidt & Whitmore, ) Curricular materials and discourses (Dennis, ; Glenn, ; Hashimoto, ; Marshall & Toohey, ; R. Rogers & Christian, ; Schieble, ; Schmidt, ; Taylor, ; P.A. Young, ) Transformations in teacher identity (Cahnmann, Rymes, & Souto‐Manning, ; Davison, ; Moin et al., ; van Rensburg, ) Power and agency variability within specific contexts and/or discourses (Anderson, ; Gibb, ; Marshall & Toohey, ; R. Rogers, ) Movement or lack of movement across social class or socioeconomic identities (Anderson, ; Dutro, ; Dworin & Bomer, ) Processes of assessment (Prins & Toso, ; Tuten, ) …”

A case study of teachers in an innovative professional collaborative and the evolution of their curricular conceptions, practices, and agency.

“…In this study, I explore the types of experiences and developmental processes through which teachers journeyed in order to express agency, specifically, structurally transformative agency, which promotes innovation or the creation of new structures, as opposed to the reproduction of existing ones. Teachers face many challenges to their exercise of structurally transformative agency, such as prescriptive curricula (Meyer & Rowan, 2006;Spring, 2015); outcomes-driven methods (Biesta, 2004;Tarnoczki, 2006); strict teacher and student accountability systems that allow for little to no instructional innovation (Apple, 2009;Harste & Short, 2010;Schmidt & Whitmore, 2010); largely ineffective professional development programs (Ball & Cohen, 1999;Borko, 2004;Putnam & Borko, 1997); and constraining professional spaces (Oolbekkink-Marchand, Hadar, Smith, Helleve, & Ulvik, 2017). Teacher agency is influenced, but not dictated by these difficulties, and some teachers are able to overcome environmental constraints, mobilizing their own beliefs, values and convictions in the enactment of their instruction.…”