Understanding the Experiences and Needs of Mainstream Teachers of ESL Students: Reflections from a Secondary Social Studies Teacher Yan Wang, Joyce Many, and Larry Krumenaker This case study addressed issues of ESL mainstreaming by examining a teacher’s experiences and needs in teaching a social studies class where ESL students were mainstreamed. Extended observations, semistructured interviews, and docu- mentary analysis served to unravel classroom dynamics, showing that the teacher modified various aspects of teaching to accommodate the needs of ESL students, which facilitated their access to the content, but at the same time created problems that had not been examined or predicted by past research. This study exposes the dilemma of providing comprehensible instruction to ESL students and highlights the role of differentiated instruction in diverse mainstream classrooms and the place of students’ first languages in learning academic content. Cette étude de cas porte sur l’intégration des élèves en ALS en examinant les expériences d’un enseignant d’un cours d’études sociales où étaient intégrés des élèves en ALS. Des observations prolongées, des entrevues semistructurées et une analyse documentaire ont permis de mieux comprendre la dynamique en salle de classe. Cette recherche à révéler que l’enseignant modifiait divers aspects de son enseignement pour répondre aux besoins des élèves en ALS, ce qui facilitait leur accès au contenu, mais qui créait en même temps des problèmes que la recherche antérieure n’avait pas évoqués ou prédits. D’une part, cette étude expose le dilemme découlant du besoin de fournir aux élèves en ALS un contenu qu’ils comprennent et, d’autre part, souligne à la fois le rôle de l’enseignement différen- tiel dans diverses classes ordinaires et celui de la langue maternelle des élèves dans leur apprentissage du contenu académique. Introduction Secondary ESL (English as a second language) students are typically placed in general education classrooms to receive content-area instruction alongside native English-speaking students (Byrnes, Kiger, & Manning, 1997; Clair, 1995; Harklau, 1994; Merino, 1999; Penfield, 1987). Mainstreaming—immers- ing language-minority immigrant students in all-English curricula with or without specialized support—is a common practice in United States public schools at the present time (Harklau) and is a visible trend for the future 66 YAN WANG, JOYCE MANY, and LARRY KRUMENAKER (Harper & Platt, 1998; Youngs & Youngs, 2001). The move to early mainstreaming as a strategy for cutting educational costs is also playing by the rules of equitable access and opportunities. Access to the regular cur- riculum, integration with language-majority students, and an authentic con- text for learning academic English (Clegg, 1996) all make mainstreaming appealing as an instructional program model. On the other hand, disad- vantages associated with the accelerated pace at which ESL students are placed in such settings are presumably to be offset by the good inclusionary strategies and differentiated instruction that would be provided. In reality, however, even given the best of all that we are led to believe would create the ideal situation, ESL students are still failing. Adger and Peyton (1999) and Valdés (1998) noted higher than average dropout rates among immigrant students in high school. Waggoner’s (1999) nationwide study of new immigrant students in the US aged 14 to 19 showed that one in five foreign-born minority-L1 students was a dropout, whereas the dropout rate among monolingual English-speaking natives was one in 12. In New York state, 32% of LEP (limited English proficiency) students dropped out of high school in 2001 after the state began to require passing the academically demanding Regents exams for high school graduation (Crawford, 2004); typically, ESL students who have remained in school are placed in low-track, academically less demanding classes (Harklau, 1994). The above data suggest that ESL students do not seem to flourish in general classroom settings (Duff, 2001; Harklau, 1994) and that mainstream- ing, as the solution proposed a decade or so ago, has not been a panacea. Research in TESOL has begun to study the mainstream learning environ- ment to identify issues facing ESL students and their experiences and needs in advancing through mainstream curricula. The mainstream puzzle, how- ever, is not likely to be fully solved without an understanding of what mainstream teachers experience in such settings and the kinds of challenges that they encounter. Mainstream-content teachers are by far the largest group of educators involved in teaching ESL students (Merino, 1999), but their experiences and perceptions thereof are little known or investigated, other than research showing that they are on the whole inadequately prepared to teach ESL students (Byrnes et al., 1997; Clair, 1995; Harklau, 1994; Merino, 1999; Penfield, 1987). This article presents a study that ad- dressed this gap in the literature, with the view that understanding teachers’ experiences and needs can complement information from earlier research on secondary mainstream classes that focused on students, thus helping to untangle the complexity involved in mainstreaming and to unravel the mul- tifacets of the mainstream picture. In what follows, we summarize theories and studies that looked into the special needs of ESL students and the classroom conditions conducive to their learning that were provided by best practices such as inclusive TESL CANADA JOURNAL/REVUE TESL DU CANADA 67 VOL. 25, NO 2, SPRING 2008 strategies and differentiated instruction. We then review research on specific challenges that mainstreaming has posed for ESL students and up-to-date information about content teachers of ESL students. We then report an eth- nographic study conducted at a US secondary school that tapped into the experiences of a secondary school teacher in a social studies course with mainstreamed ESL students, focusing on the effect of ESL mainstreaming on the teacher and his needs arising from working in such a context. Language Needs What do ESL students need in order to succeed in the mainstream? First and foremost, as limited-English-speakers dealing with all-English curricula, they need a grasp of English sufficient to learn the content. Their linguistic needs are twofold. Cummins (1980) distinguishes the kind of language needed for everyday life, which he refers to as basic interpersonal communi- cation skills (BICS), from language necessary for learning academic material such as social studies or science, which he refers to as cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). CALP is cognitively more demanding and linguistically more complex than BICS, and therefore takes a much longer time for students to develop. To develop social and academic English, ESL learners need to receive comprehensible input, that is, the kind of language input addressed to their current states of proficiency but at a slightly higher level (Krashen, 1985). They also need plentiful interactions with more advanced English-speakers, from whom they acquire the language through the negotiation of meaning (Long, 1996). In particular, they need opportunities for L2 production, oral or written, which is necessary for learners to develop native-like accuracy (Swain, 1985). The Place of the First Language (L1) Although exclusive agreement on the role of the L1 in the process of second- language (L2) acquisition and academic learning in the L2 has not been reached, the TESOL field now is inclined toward a positive view of the L1 in this respect. In Roessingh’s (2004) review of effective school literature on ESL programs, most of the studies stressed the importance of the L1 in develop- ing the L2. Evidence elsewhere supports the view that L1 reading and writ- ing skills contribute to L2 literacy development (Peregoy & Boyle, 2005). With older ESL students who are well schooled in their home countries, conceptual knowledge developed in their L1s is readily transferred to an L2 context. These transferences are made possible by what Cummins (1982) refers to as Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP): a deeper cognitive and linguistic proficiency common across various languages. 68 YAN WANG, JOYCE MANY, and LARRY KRUMENAKER Inclusive Strategies ESL programs have historically played the role of meeting students’ needs for social interpersonal English. They have been criticized, however, for failing to develop ESL learners’ academic English and for isolating them from regular school curricula and native English-speaking students. Mainstream-content classes, on the other hand, may offer opportunities that ESL programs lack. The question remains as to if by mere physical presence in the mainstream, ESL learners can reap the advantages that such settings potentially provide. Inclusive education as a philosophy and practice arises from special edu- cation, which involves placement of students with disabilities in the general education setting, with the goal for them to be “full members of their schools and classroom groups” (Janney & Snell, 2006, p. 215). To achieve this objec- tive, teachers need to make instructional adaptations in a variety of ways, with the appropriateness of such adaptations judged in large measure by the extent to which they facilitate students’ “social and instructional participa- tion in class activities” (p. 216). ESL mainstreaming, an instructional program model to serve another special-needs population, has parallels with special education inclusion. In the light of what inclusion means in special education, inclusive education for ESL students should go beyond mere placement and aim for students’ participation in and membership of the mainstream community. A number of inclusive strategies have been developed in the context of ESL mainstreaming to integrate language and content instruction (L & C integra- tion strategies) so that ESL learners can gain access to the mainstream cur- riculum and successfully learn the content. Past research has identified linguistic features of various academic disciplines and their associated types of discourse (Chamot & O’Malley, 1994): effective L & C instruction draws on such knowledge and deals implicitly or explicitly with language forms such as lexical items, syntactic structures, and rhetorical styles of particular sub- jects. Such approaches also highlight linguistic and content scaffolding in other ways, for example, by providing visual support and addressing gaps in prior knowledge (cultural and content). Furthermore, effective school litera- ture identifies group work, interactive activities, modification of language input, and other such tactics as effective L & C strategies (Roessingh, 2004). Social studies poses special challenges for secondary ESL students (Duff, 2001): the nature of the content and the discourse type demand a high level of language proficiency in both receptive and productive modes. Classroom activities and tasks involve linguistically and cognitively complex language functions such as analyzing, comparing and contrasting, taking multiple perspectives, critical thinking, and making judgments (Chamot & O’Malley, 1994). To participate successfully in the social studies curriculum, students must have a certain amount of social, cultural, and geographical background TESL CANADA JOURNAL/REVUE TESL DU CANADA 69 VOL. 25, NO 2, SPRING 2008 knowledge (Duff). Inclusive strategies, therefore, appear especially critical if ESL learners are to benefit from being placed in mainstream social studies classes. Differentiated Instruction One evident consequence of ESL mainstreaming is increased diversity of the student population in the general education setting, a situation that calls for differentiated instruction, an approach that meets students where they are and addresses their varying needs with “the intent … maximize each student’s growth and individual success” (Hall, 2002, p. 2). According to Tomlinson and Allan (2002), all elements of instruction—content, process, and product—can be differentiated in the light of student differences in readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles (such as students’ cultural background and learning styles). In mainstream classes with ESL students, the learning profile should include students’ English proficiency levels as well. When differentiating content, the core content (concepts, principles, attitudes, and skills) remains the same although students’ access to it is differentiated through, for example, texts at multiple reading levels, a variety of instructional media (texts, computer programs, tapes), and so forth. Pro- cess can be differentiated by means of diversifying learning activities accord- ing to formats, levels of difficulty, amount of teacher and peer support, and students’ interests. Products are differentiated by allowing students to dem- onstrate their learning in a variety of ways, using alternative assessment among others. Differentiation at the level of content, process, and products can also include flexible grouping and tiered activities, as well as flexibility in the use of time, materials, modes of teaching, and so forth. Past Research on ESL Mainstreaming In the light of the theories and research on the needs of ESL students and best practices in educating them, we turn our attention to what the literature reveals about the mainstream classroom in reality such as the extent to which ESL students’ needs are met and that best practices are actually present in such settings. An increasing number of studies have examined the mainstream learning context for ESL learners (Clair, 1995; Duff, 2001; Gunderson, 2000; Harklau, 1994; Harper & Platt, 1998; Kanno & Applebaum, 1995; Mohan, 2001). These studies typically investigated how the students fared in such settings and identified problems and challenges that they encountered in gaining access to the academic curriculum, in continuing to develop their English-language skills, and in interacting with native English-speaking students, with the general conclusion that mainstreaming had not been effective in meeting the linguistic, academic, or social needs of ESL students. 70 YAN WANG, JOYCE MANY, and LARRY KRUMENAKER In a two-year ethnographic study on mainstreamed ESL students in two grade 10 social studies classes in a Canadian secondary school, Duff (2001) noted that regular social studies instructional activities and learning tasks such as perspective-taking, narrating, criticizing, open discussions, and structured debates although effective and engaging for native English-speak- ing students, posed great challenges for ESL learners because the latter lacked the level of language proficiency, pop-culture knowledge, social inter- actional skills, and confidence necessary for participation, and because L & C integration strategies that could have assisted the students such as a slower pace of speaking, visual aids, and individual attention were largely absent. The two teachers, well trained and effective in teaching social studies to native English-speakers, did not exhibit a comparable level of effectiveness with the non-native students in the same settings. Similar findings were reported in Harklau’s three-year study (1994) con- ducted in a US high school, which showed that L & C integration strategies were not provided in mainstream classes to make input comprehensible for ESL learners. Few opportunities existed in such settings for students to engage in extended oral interactions or in writing, or to continue language development through means such as teachers’ feedback on their writing or other feedback addressed particularly to their needs. In addition, ESL stu- dents were not able to take advantage of the opportunities provided by mainstreaming to socialize with their native counterparts. Research on ESL mainstreaming has typically focused on ESL students and portrayed mainstream teachers as unresponsive to and unable to ac- count for these students’ needs. Only a handful of studies have been con- ducted with a focus on mainstream-content teachers. These studies typically looked at teachers’ attitudes toward ESL students and associated contextual variables (Byrnes et al., 1997; Penfield, 1987; Youngs & Youngs, 2001). Teach- er preparation and professional development are another issue that has been investigated (Clair, 1995; Clair & Adger, 1999; Merino, 1999). How mainstreaming has affected mainstream teachers and what their experiences are in such settings have largely been overlooked and, therefore, constitute the focus of the current study. Methodology Context of the Study The research site for this study was Central High School (pseudonym), a racially diverse secondary school with a relatively large ESL population in a metropolitan area in the southeast US. The students in the school spoke at least 55 languages and came from approximately 65 countries. During the year 2002-2003, 69% of the nearly 1,000 students were limited English speakers. The school offered two English as a second language programs, TESL CANADA JOURNAL/REVUE TESL DU CANADA 71 VOL. 25, NO 2, SPRING 2008 which served approximately 340 students. This study defined ESL students as those who were receiving instruction from the two programs. The study was conducted in Tom’s grade 9 social studies class in the Central High School. Tom (all names are pseudonyms) was a veteran teacher who had taught social studies there for seven years. He was drawn to the classroom by his passion for teaching, “I just fell in love with it. I love to teach. I love these subjects … I like young people.” His devotion was evident in his efforts to secure useful materials for students. For example, with his own money he had purchased a cabinet for students to use, as well as a scanner for copying and printing materials, and he wrote a grant proposal to obtain globes. His classroom housed a rich array of instructional and tech- nological resources such as reference books in both English and Spanish, atlases, encyclopedias (both in bound copies and on CD-ROM), and two computers, one of which had been donated by his wife. When the school system failed to purchase the CD-ROM that accompanied the text adopted for his course, Tom purchased the multimedia disk using his own funds. Tom had attempted to learn Spanish, the primary language for most of his students, using Spanish for Educators (Harvey, 1998), a book on conversa- tional Spanish for teachers to use when communicating with Hispanic stu- dents in matters related to classroom instruction. The Students Tom’s classes included a majority of students who spoke Spanish as their first language. In the grade 9 class under study, Spanish was the major first language although other languages were also represented. Approximately half the students each semester qualified for ESL instruc- tion. The rest of the non-native students varied from those who had just left the ESL programs and who still had limited English proficiency, to those who had come to the US at a young age and were quite fluent in English. Some of the non-native students had considerable gaps in their past school- ing, as Tom noted, We’ve got problems with ESL students because of language, but also because a lot of ESL students are way behind in their educational progression in their own country. We’ve got kids here who are 16 who stopped school in the third grade in Guatemala. On another occasion, Tom extended this observation to students’ know- ledge of geography in particular, stating, “A lot of them come from other countries and they don’t know anything about how to read maps, or charts, or graphs.” However, although such gaps did exist in some ESL students’ educational experiences, others in this population at the school included some who 72 YAN WANG, JOYCE MANY, and LARRY KRUMENAKER Table 1 First Languages of Students in Tom’s Social Studies Class First language Number of students Fall semester Spring semester (World geography) (Civics) Bengali 1 1 English 5 10 Serbo-Croatian 1 1 Spanish 19 15 Urdu 1 1 Vietnamese 1 1 Total Students 28 29 (ESL Students) (10-12) (11-13) exhibited advanced or even exceptional capabilities in their native lan- guages. Mobility was another notable characteristic of Tom’s students. When the semester started, Tom had 90 students across all his classes. As the semester progressed, 50 more students came, and 10 left. This transience was typical among immigrant students, especially Hispanic students from Mexico and Central America. They were absent from school when their families traveled back to their home countries for vacations or holidays. The instability of jobs held by the parents was another cause of frequent moves by the families. About one third of the ESL student participants in this study indicated to us a possibility of not coming back to the same school in the following semester because their parents might get a new job or their families might move for other reasons. Data Collection and Analysis This article focuses on Tom, the teacher of the grade 9 social studies class at Central High School. Data collection occurred in this class beginning in October 2003 and continued through May 2004. The primary researcher (Yan Wang) compiled extensive field notes documenting classroom activities through 120 hour-long observations. Given the exploratory nature of the study (to render a truthful representation of the classroom in its regular state), she tried not to intervene in any of the class activities, but was present merely as an observer. In addition to observations, she conducted six formal interviews with Tom each lasting 30 to 80 minutes and had countless infor- mal conversations with him throughout the year. Although the case study developed in this research focused on the teach- er, similar and nearly concurrent conversations were held with students TESL CANADA JOURNAL/REVUE TESL DU CANADA 73 VOL. 25, NO 2, SPRING 2008 from the class, including both native and non-native English-speakers, to learn their views and experiences about studying in this mainstream social studies class. For students to participate in the study, both they and their parents were asked to read and sign the Consent Form, which was also translated into Spanish for those parents who did not read English. All the semistructured interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Furthermore, lesson plans, instructional materials, and samples of students’ work were collected and examined. Data analysis began with initial data collection using the coding methods of Strauss and Corbin (1998). Throughout the process of data analysis, checks were conducted to verify the credibility of interpretations. As the primary researcher collected and analyzed data, data collection procedures and inter- pretations were shared and discussed with the research team members, who offered reflection and critical analysis of emerging categories, of patterns across categories, and of methodological decisions. Emergent themes were also checked and confirmed across multiple data sources: field notes, inter- view transcriptions, lesson plans, instructional materials, and samples of student work. Findings Tom’s experiences in this grade 9 social studies class, after being pieced together through data from different sources, revealed that mainstreaming had a significant effect on him. He admitted that he would teach differently in a classroom with all native English-speakers: “I would be a very different kind of teacher.” The effect was seen mainly in the differentiated instruction that he provided and the inclusive strategies that he used. Working in such a context gave rise to needs that Tom expressed mainly through his view of the role of students’ L1 in their learning. Differentiated Instruction Tom’s class was diverse, which was notably seen in students’ varying abilities in English (native English-speakers versus non-native ones, as well as discrepancies in English proficiencies among the latter), and which was also evident in students’ varying readiness levels in social studies, general academic skills (such as analytical thinking), and literacy skills in the L1. The instruction provided by Tom showed certain features of differentiation in responding to such a diverse classroom. Multiple ways for students to gain access to the content. As described in the methods section, Tom’s classroom was filled with a wide range of instruc- tional materials and technology resources such as numerous maps, audios, videos, films, and computer multimedia programs, by which students with varied learning styles and levels of English could find their way to access the content. When taping TV programs containing social studies content, Tom 74 YAN WANG, JOYCE MANY, and LARRY KRUMENAKER set the equipment such that the subtitles would appear. When he played the videos in the classroom, students with limited English were able to listen at the same time as they read the captions. And Tom especially considered students’ linguistic needs when selecting written materials for instruction. We noted that some of the materials in his classroom were bilingual. For example, Tom had maps and an Atlas of World History in both English and Spanish, and he subscribed for a year to the National Geographic in the two languages so that both English-L1 and Spanish-L1 students would benefit. Assessment. In assessing students for grades, Tom emphasized knowledge instead of language form. He gave a combination of open-book and closed- book tests. The use of dictionaries was always allowed. “I give them grades for the amount of work they do, and then I give them open-book tests where they can use the book and they can help each other most of the time.” When students did not finish a test in class, they were allowed to continue working on it at home because “they’re not capable yet in reading and writing at a level sufficient to pass the kind of test we normally give. They don’t deserve to fail.” Small class size. In terms of his working needs in such a setting, Tom felt that limiting the class size would significantly improve teachers’ abilities to work effectively with ESL students. Although a small class size would facili- tate teaching and learning in any setting, Tom felt it was especially beneficial in classrooms that had relatively large numbers of limited English-speakers: “I would have more time to target different materials to different groups and work with the ESL students, more time pairing them, more time pairing them at their competency level.” Inclusive Strategies and Associated Challenges In this social studies class with ESL students mainstreamed, we noted that in various elements of instruction Tom employed a number of strategies par- ticularly designed to accommodate these students and to enable them to participate and learn. These strategies, however, resulted in mixed outcomes. Modifications made to content and materials. Because of non-native students’ limited English and the gaps in their academic backgrounds, Tom had to slow his pace of delivery. As a result, less content was covered: “I am probably not going to cover about four or five chapters that I would cover in a normal semester with English-speaking students.” Sometimes Tom tried to cover a good deal of information, but in a shallow way rather than in the more thorough manner that he might otherwise have adopted. “In geog- raphy, because we cover a lot, we move more quickly, and so sometimes I have to skip every third chapter, just to be able to hit the important chapters.” Tom explained, “They can’t read as quickly.” Tom also had to cut out additional reading and more in-depth investigation of issues related to the course content: “So it’s fast. It’s very shallow. It’s limited.” TESL CANADA JOURNAL/REVUE TESL DU CANADA 75 VOL. 25, NO 2, SPRING 2008