High school teacher perspectives and practices: second language writing and language development

Date
2015
Authors
Gilliland, Betsy
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Taylor & Francis
Volume
29
Number/Issue
4
Starting Page
287
Ending Page
301
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Abstract
Teachers' understandings of second language learning influence their practices in the classroom. This paper analyzes interview and classroom data collected during a year-long ethnographic study of two high school English language development classes to identify (1) what the teachers understood about second language (L2) development and L2 academic writing, and (2) to what extent these perspectives manifested in the teachers’ writing instruction. Analyses suggest that both the teachers felt that language could be learned inductively through exposure to models and that writing instruction should focus on essay structure and correctness. Their teaching, however, was also constrained by accountability pressures from high stakes writing assessments. I argue that the teachers? approaches reflected a restrictive understanding not aligned with a situated perspective on language and writing development and therefore denied their multilingual students’ opportunities to learn academic language for writing.
Description
Keywords
English as a second language, adolescent literacy, Writing
Citation
Gilliland, B. (2015). High school teacher perspectives and practices: second language writing and language development. Language and Education, 29(4), 287-301. doi:10.1080/09500782.2014.1001398
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18-month embargo on sharing accepted manuscript on institutional repository
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