Teacher Identity: Community College Composition Teachers' Investment in Language Minority Students

Abstract

The number of language minority (LM) students enrolling in American community colleges continues to rise while institutions of higher education must also cope with mounting pressure to demonstrate accountability and outcomes. In this context, the dissertation investigated the underexplored origins of what mainstream writing teachers do and say in relation to the LM students with whom they work. The guiding research questions were: 1) How do community college mainstream writing teachers construct their professional identities in relation to LM students, with regard to: a) attitudes, b) beliefs, c) knowledge, d) previous experiences?, and 2): How do these professional identities influence their communication with and behavior towards LM students? In order to explore these questions, a qualitative research approach was used, focusing on narratives derived from a series of individual participant interviews. Each interview was examined for the appearance of the four focal categories: attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and previous experiences; the resulting narratives were then organized into stanzas which were analyzed for both content and discourse. The main themes evident across the narratives were confidence, connections, and constraints, suggesting that participants’ professional identities revolve around helping LM students build confidence in their academic skills primarily through facilitating connections with individuals and institutional entities. However, participants’ abilities to foster LM students’ confidence and help them establish meaningful connections are subject to constraints outside of teachers’ control. The findings affirm current research underscoring the significant role of faculty in supporting LM students and point to a number of areas where institutions can work to support teachers of LM students. The results also reveal that teachers’ professional identities develop gradually over the long term, most often through informal, unplanned personal and professional experiences. The study highlights a number of important implications for pedagogy, policy, and professional development.