ERIC Number: EJ1188092
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1087-3430
EISSN: N/A
Science Teachers' ESOL Professional Learning and New Hybrid Identity Development
Lew, Shim
Electronic Journal of Science Education, v20 n3 p32-58 2016
This multiple case study investigates four science teachers' experiences of boundary crossing through participation in an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) professional development program and the extension of their identity as ESOL/language teachers. The study examines how science teachers transform into science and language teachers by exploring teachers' disciplinary identity, their adoption of a new extended professional identity, and the mismatch between their new identity and its enactment in science classrooms. Through classroom observations, interviews, and document analysis, this study finds that the secondary science educators had a flexible disciplinary identity, and thus, adopted a new professional identity as ESOL/language teacher without strong resistance. However, their extended identity was not enacted in their classrooms. For successful transformation of science teachers into science and ESOL teachers, contextual adjustment and a continuous support system is required. The paper concludes with implications for further research on teacher education for content area educators teaching English learners.
Descriptors: Science Teachers, English (Second Language), Professional Identity, Faculty Development, Secondary School Teachers, Secondary School Science, Teacher Education, Classroom Techniques, Language Teachers, Second Language Instruction, Science Instruction
Southwestern University and Texas Christian University. TCU Box 297900, Fort Worth, TX 76129. Tel: 817-257-6115; e-mail: ejse@southwestern.edu; Web site: http://ejse.southwestern.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A