The Impact of a Faculty Learning Community Approach on Pre-Service Teachers’ English Learner Pedagogy Michael P. Alfano, John Zack, Mary E. Yakimowski, Sandra Billings, and Gina Purpura University of Connecticut – Neag School of Education April 2012

Statement of Purpose To examine the impact of the purposeful creation of a Faculty learning Community on pre- service teacher candidates’ EL pedagogy, as self reported on the Teaching English Language Learner Self Efficacy Scale (TELLSES)

Theoretical Frameworks Bandura TELLSES – 20 questions based on Bandura’s (1994) theory of social learning theory that embraces self-efficacy ◦ Ability to perform particular activities successfully and thus exert control over life events. ◦ Influences individual motivation, cognitive processes, emotions and health, and life choices ◦ High self-efficacy approach goals with greater confidence, tend to maintain commitment and persistence for longer periods of time.

Theoretical Frameworks Levine and Howard (2010) Faculty Learning Community model Project Prepare ◦ Incorporates both the Pull in and Faculty Seminar components  Key components:  Professional Development  Continuous reading  Researching  Writing on Pertinent Topics  Transparent practices

Research Design and Research Questions Research Design ◦ Mixed method mode of inquiry. ◦ Quantitative and Qualitative analyses Overall Research Question ◦ What is the impact of a Faculty Learning Community on pre-service teachers’ EL pedagogy?

Setting TEACHERS CERTIFICATION PROGRAM FOR COLLEGE GRADUATES (TCPCG) Masters in C&I with Certification Secondary Education  Year long 45 credit program – June-April  English, math, science, social studies, world language, agriculture, and special education (K-12)  Four consecutive semesters  Cohort model – close community of learners ◦

Participants Students enrolled in the TCPCG during the School year ◦ 69.2% females ◦ 13.1% minorities  English (20.0%)  Social Studies (16.9%)  Mathematics (9.2%)  Science or Agriculture (29.2%)  World Languages (10.7%)  Special Education (13.8%)

Procedures 1. Implement Faculty Learning Community ◦ Instructors learn and integrate more instruction on EL instruction within their own classroom within TCPCG 2. Measuring teacher candidate performance by administering TELLSES: ◦ Summer – beginning of the program ◦ Fall – mid-program after student teaching ◦ Spring – prior to graduation

3. Analyzing and reporting improvement of candidates on each item, factor, and grand mean on TELLSES 4. Stating the lessons learned, including how this model might be adopted with modifications by other teacher education programs concerned with meeting the instructional needs of ELs.

Instrumentation Primary Source: TELLSES  20-item instrument using 10 point Likert-scale  Survey administered at three points throughout the academic year:  Prior to starting the program in the summer  After completing student teaching in the fall  Immediately prior to starting the program  The survey also included a section that asked students to complete an open-ended task related to how they would teach a given, specific topic within their content area to a class with several ELs

FACTORS Within the TELLSES the researchers identified three factors: 1. EL’s own resources 2. Pedagogical Strategies 3. Challenges

ANALYSIS Descriptive statistics were calculated to report the means for each item, global measure, and the three factors scores from TELLSES at each administration Since the same measures were collected multiple times for each subject, the researchers implemented a repeated measure design to determine whether significant improvement could be observed over time in the TELLSES in the global measure or in any of the three identified factors. In terms of the open-ended responses, a thematic analyses was performed on each statement to provide greater understanding of participants’ preparedness to teach ELs.

RESULTS

GLOBAL MEASSURE The first RMANOVA compared the scores on the TELLSES global measure to determine if there was a significant difference in the overall TELLSES scores across time.

FACTOR 1 EL’s Own Resources Dealt with making connections with the K-12 pupils’ native language, culture, and home life

FACTOR 2 Pedagogical Strategies  Concerned the pre-service teachers’ ability to implement appropriate pedagogical strategies for assisting Els to learn content language.

FACTOR 3 Challenges  Related to the candidates’ awareness and ability to overcome challenges faced by pupils.

Qualitative Results Teacher-centered vs. Student-centered Specific strategies & information provided Instructional techniques Vocabulary instruction

Significance This study Illustrates that when a group of teacher educators is willing to move forward together, what we know can be transformed into what we can do The positive impact on the learning and perceived ability of future educators to meet the instructional needs of English Learners was supported within the data The pre-service teachers who participated in the study felt they were better prepared to meet the instructional needs of EL students

Conclusions The Faculty Learning Community at the Uconn’s TCPCG program affected positive changes in the faculty’s behavior regarding their ability to prepare pre-service teachers to meet the instructional needs of EL pupils Teacher educators consistently integrated the four foundational elements: Understandings, Practices, Disposition, and Vision necessary in developing pre-serviced teachers’ ability to meet the needs of the underserved student population.

Conclusions Pre-service teachers reported self-efficacy regarding the teaching of English Learners

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT Michael P. Alfano, Ph.D. Executive Director of Teacher Education Programs Associate Professor-in-Residence University of Connecticut Neag School of Education