Investigating mainstream teachers' beliefs and experiences with English language learners

Due to the rapidly evolving global demographics, the student population in Canada has become increasingly diverse, a transformation that has created extraordinary challenges for mainstream teachers with whom English language learners (ELLs) spend the majority of their instructional time. This qualitative study investigated mainstream teachers’ experiences, perceptions, and attitudes towards ELLs and the challenges associated with teaching ELLs. Through semi-structured interviews with 4 secondary school teachers, the study captured the situated experiences and stories of mainstream teachers who work with ELLs. While the findings indicate that most teachers have very positive attitudes and high levels of awareness of the learning needs of ELLs, the study also found that participants felt inadequately prepared to teach ELLs effectively in mainstream settings and that most teachers needed to move beyond the narrow perceptions of vocabulary as the only difficulty that ELLs experience to include the broader political, socio-cultural, and historical contexts of learning. This study could significantly add to our understanding of ELLs’ unique needs in mainstream classes and should be helpful to many educators, especially those who have an interest in instruction that is responsive to individuals and groups within our school system.