Who is responsible for educating English language learners? Discursive construction of roles and responsibilities in an inquiry community

Abstract

In many English as a Second Language (ESL) programs across the United States classroom teachers, ESL specialists, and bilingual paraprofessional share responsibility for teaching English language learners. Expectations of ‘shared responsibility’ are constructed and negotiated through local discourses. This study explores how the roles and responsibilities of classroom teachers, the ESL department, and students are constructed and reproduced in a site-based inquiry group's conversation. The inquiry team's goal of improving instructional practices for English language learners is constructed through and constrained by local discourses. Through discourse analysis (Edley 2001) I explore the available subject positions and ideological assumptions within local discourses. The three dominant, local discourses normalize particular roles and responsibilities with significant consequences for the education of English language learners. I propose that professional development can engage and manipulate the ideological tensions between existing discourses to promote instructional and cultural changes, making available new expectations of shared responsibility.