Professional Development and Teacher Efficacy: Contexts of What, When, and How in Serving ELLs

Abstract

The increasing numbers of ELLs (English Language Learners) in U.S. classrooms has prioritized into building quality teacher education programs for teachers so that they have the pedagogical tools necessary to support their students. A continued focus with professional development at the local, state, and national level has gained momentum to ensure that mainstream teachers have appropriate cultural competence skills and research-based practices to meet students' diverse linguistic and academic needs. This mixed method study on 144 PK-12 teachers with five or less years of experience highlighted the importance of teachers' perceptions and efficacy beliefs in working with ELLs. Five in-depth cases illustrated a support for professional development in creating high efficacious behaviors for teaching ELLs. Additionally, a quantitative finding augmented teacher narratives to reveal a statistical significance in efficacy beliefs for teachers who received adequate inservice professional development as opposed to teachers who were not afforded those opportunities.

The Impact of Virtual Professional Development on ESL Teachers' Self-Efficacy Toward Teaching English Learners

“…Based on the results, we found that the six-week, structured VPD significantly improved inservice teachers' self-efficacy towards working with ELs. The literature lends support to the idea that quality PD can lead to higher teacher self-efficacy (Tran, 2014). To be specific, after participating in the program, teachers felt more comfortable and prepared to work with and teach ELs.…”

Teacher Beliefs About English Language Learners: A Critical Review of the Literature

“…Preservice teachers who completed coursework related to teaching ELLs expressed favorable attitudes toward heritage language maintenance (Markos, 2012), toward using L1 in instruction (Hutchinson, 2013), toward the inclusion of ELLs in mainstream classrooms (Clark-Goff & Eslami, 2016;Hutchinson, 2013), and toward their ability to teach ELLs (Clark-Goff & Eslami, 2016;Jimenez-Silva & Olson, 2012;Turgut, Adibelli Sahin, & Huerta, 2016). Inservice teachers also expressed more positive attitudes after participating in professional development related to teaching ELLs (Andrei, Ellerbe, & Cherner, 2015;Brooks & Adams, 2015;Hansen-Thomas, Grosso Richins, Kakkar, & Okeyo, 2016;2012;Tran, 2014).…”

Standpoint Theory in Professional Development: Examining Former Refugee Education in Canada

“…Although the literature on professional development for teachers of former refugee students is limited, a number of recent studies (Karabenick & Noda, 2004;Tran, 2014) support the notion that professional development experiences related to EAL learners are overwhelmingly positive for both teachers, as skill developers, and students, as beneficiaries. Because former refugee students are often EAL learners, this body of literature is relevant to this article.…”

“…Because former refugee students are often EAL learners, this body of literature is relevant to this article. Tran (2014) studied the effects of professional development on teaching EAL learners and found that long-term pedagogical change resulted from participation in professional development. Following a large quantitative survey, the researcher closely documented the professional development programming of five of the participants.…”