Determining professional development needs of school-based agricultural education teachers for working with English language learners

Abstract

English Language Learners (ELLs) are one of the fastest growing student populations in the United States. However, teachers, including school-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers, report being underprepared to teach ELLs. Skills needed to teach ELLs were identified and categorized using Coady et al.’s model for preparing effective teachers of ELLs. The purpose of this study was to describe current SBAE teacher perceptions and needs related to strategies for working with ELLs in the agriculture classroom. This was accomplished through a Borich needs assessment using an online survey of [State] SBAE teachers. Less than half of respondents reported receiving training in 37 out of the 41 ELL teaching strategies. The greatest professional development need was communication with ELLs and their parents. The results of this study were consistent with previous research, which reported that SBAE teachers received little training in working with ELL students. When examining teachers’ competence for working with ELL students, there were no teaching and learning strategies where teachers felt more than somewhat competent. Professional development should be provided to help improve teachers’ communication with ELL students and their parents, and teacher preparation programs should provide experiences to allow preservice teachers to work with ELL students.