Defining the Job of the ESL Program Director: Results of a National Survey

Abstract

The ESL program director's job is examined through a national survey and comparison with earlier studies and with data from a group of university department and program heads. It is found that the ESL directors as a group have a higher terminal degree than in a 1981 study, with about half holding a doctorate. As compared with the other academic administrators, the ESL directors oversee a smaller number of full-time faculty and non-faculty staff positions, and they are younger, less experienced, more likely to be female, less likely to hold a professorial rank, less likely to be tenured, less likely to have been appointed from inside the department or program, and with less time available for teaching or research. Like the other academic administrators, the ESL directors are satisfied with their job performance and perceive a relatively good match between the level of skills needed for their job and the level which they actually possess. Of the three administrative skill types of human, conceptual, and technical, the ESL directors rate the first two as more important for their jobs than the third and feel that they possess human and conceptual skills to a greater degree than technical skills. An examination of job activities and concerns finds ESL administrators directing attention to business and managerial affairs, while maintaining their educational interests.