What do my teachers think of me? The effect of deficit framing on emergent bilinguals' self-concept as language learners

Abstract

When looking into best practice pedagogy for English language learners (ELLs), it is important to take a holistic view and explore the many different factors that can affect such complex learners, especially from a detrimental standpoint, such as holding a deficit perspective of these learners. Furthermore, it is important to look at teaching practices from the perspective of the students themselves, as this has not previously been researched. In this research study, the author chose to use the term Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in order to focus on the students from a positive, additive perspective of language learners. This study had 3 main research questions focused on the constructs of teacher perceptions and academic self-concept. The first question focused on how EBs perceived their teachers' attitudes toward them as students followed by looking into what extent the EBs rated their own academic self-concepts. Lastly, the research explored the two constructs together to see if a relationship existed between teacher perceptions and academic self-concept. Using a survey comprised of twelve items rated on a four-point Likert scale and two short answer items, data was collected from eighteen EBs in an urban school district in Western New York. The results showed that the majority of students rated their teacher perceptions favorably and additionally, rated their own academic self-concepts in a favorable manner. The final research question determined that there was not a strong correlational relationship between the two constructs. [from author's abstract]