School Culture and the Affective Learning Needs of Latino Long-term English Learners

Abstract

The US Department of Education projects that by the year 2030 the total English Learner (EL) population in US schools will exceed 40 percent. Currently, by the time ELs make it to high school, after 7 or more years in English Language Development (ELD) programs, the majority (59 percent), are Long Term English Learners (LTEL). LTEL students represent a variety of ethnicities and language groups, but the focus of this qualitative study is LTEL students who identify as Latino LTEL. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and explain recently graduated Latino LTEL’s perceptions of the impact of their school’s culture on their academic and affective acculturation. As schools look to improve the educational outcome of Latino EL, listening to voices of former LTEL as they share their high school experiences can provide insights into ways to support the affective learning needs, academic success, and acculturation of Latino EL. Through 10 in-depth interviews with former Latino LTEL and employing qualitative coding analysis, this research explored and analyzed recently graduated Latino EL’s perceptions of the impact of school culture on their academic acculturation. Even though schools have for many years attempted to address the needs of their linguistically diverse students, the results of this study indicate that the participants’ high schools did not do enough to support their academic and affective learning needs. This lack of support impacted participants’ self-perceptions of themselves as learners. To