Chapter 1: Mainstream Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives about Teaching English Language Learners

Given the increase in the number of English language learners (ELLs) in U. S. schools, all teachers need to be prepared to address this emerging population. This chapter describes the perspectives of four elementary school teachers about what mainstream elementary teachers of ELLs should know and be able to do. Previous work focusing on preparing all teachers for ELLs has established this area as high need in the research literature due to the increasing number of ELLs in K–12 U.S. schools, 2011; Burke, 2014; de Oliveira & Athanases, 2007; Peercy, 2011; Peercy & Martin-Beltran, 2012). The impetus for this work comes from the idea that practitioner knowledge (Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2002) needs to be made public and is a response to calls for more research on teacher education for ELLs (Hollins & Torres Guzman, 2005; Zeichner, 2009). Drawing on interview and classroom observation data, this chapter conceptualizes a knowledge base for teaching ELLs at the elementary level.