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                               University of Nebraska - Lincoln
                               DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln
                               Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching,                                                   Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher
                               Learning and Teacher Education                                                                                                                                Education
                               2017
                               Pre-service Teachers’ Confidence and Attitudes
                               toward Teaching English Learners
                               Stephanie Wessels
                               University of Nebraska-Lincoln, swessels2@unl.edu
                               Guy Trainin
                               University of Nebraska-Lincoln, gtrainin2@unl.edu
                               Jenelle Reeves
                               University of Nebraska - Lincoln, jreeves2@unl.edu
                               Theresa Catalano
                               University of Nebraska-Lincoln, tcatalano2@unl.edu
                               Qizhen Deng
                               University of Nebraska–Lincoln,, qdeng@unl.edu
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                               Wessels, Stephanie; Trainin, Guy; Reeves, Jenelle; Catalano, Theresa; and Deng, Qizhen, "Pre-service Teachers’ Confidence and
                               Attitudes toward Teaching English Learners" (2017).Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education.
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                 Pre-service Teachers’ Confidence and 
                 Attitudes toward Teaching English 
                 Learners
                 stePhanie wessels, Guy trainin, Jenelle reeves, 
                 theresa catalano, and Qizhen denG
                 ABSTRACT: Research has shown that many pre-service teachers do not feel confi-
                 dent in their abilities to work with English learners (ELs), and that attitudes toward 
                 ELs can have an effect on their confidence in working with these students. The 
                 purpose of this quantitative study is to find out what factors affect the confidence 
                 and attitudes of pre-service teachers in regard to teaching ELs. Data consisted 
                 of a four-part survey of 244 pre-service teachers entering an elementary teacher 
                 education program. Findings revealed that attitudes toward ELs’ use of L1 cor-
                 related with reported second language proficiency and diversity experience, and 
                 indirectly with international travel experience. In contrast, confidence levels did 
                 not correlate with these variables. The authors conclude with suggestions for ways 
                 that teacher education programs can change attitudes toward L1 use, develop 
                 confidence, and foster greater understanding of ELs in pre-service teachers.
                                              Introduction
                 Today’s pre-service teachers can expect that their eventual classrooms will 
                 include students who speak a home language other than English (National 
                 Center for Educational Statistics, 2013). Yet, much recent scholarship indi-
                 cates that teachers, both practicing and in-service, feel unprepared to teach 
                 ELs. In a survey of teacher preparedness, only 29.5 percent of teachers with 
                 ELs in their classrooms felt confident that they have had the training to 
                 effectively teach ELs (NCES, 1997), and 81.7 percent of teachers in Author’s 
                 (2006) survey of 297 high school teachers reported they did not feel adequately 
                 trained to do so. Similarly, 57 percent of teacher participants in another study 
                 indicated that they needed more training in order to provide effective edu-
                 cation for ELs (Alexander, Heaviside, & Farris, 1999). Darling-Hammond, 
                 Chung, and Frelow (2002) found that teachers’ feelings of preparedness are 
                 significantly related to their confidence about their ability to teach effectively. 
                 In addition, Darling-Hammond and colleagues (2002) found that “teachers 
                 did not feel that their teacher education programs adequately prepared them 
                 for certain tasks, such as using technology and teaching English Language 
                 Teacher Education and Practice, Vol. 30, No. 3 / Summer 2017         443
       TEP 30(3).indb   443                                                            22-08-2017   20:02:15
                 444     STEPHANIE WESSELS ET AL.
                 Learners” (p. 22). Teacher preparedness and subsequent teacher confidence 
                 for teaching ELs in the general education classroom are sorely lacking.
                    Teacher preparation institutions and policy makers have taken note of 
                 the lack of preparedness and confidence to teach ELs effectively. Currently, 
                 there are twenty states in the United States that require pre-service teachers 
                 to have some sort of EL teaching preparation (Menken & Atunez, 2001). 
                 Menken and Atunez (2001) found that less than one-sixth of the teacher 
                 preparation institutions, however, require courses in working with ELs in the 
                 classroom setting. With school populations becoming increasingly culturally 
                 and linguistically diverse, this need for all teacher preparation programs to 
                 incorporate ESL methodologies in their programs continues today (García 
                 et al., 2010; Bunch, 2013).
                    What teachers need to know and be able to do has received much recent 
                 attention in scholarship, and there is increasing consensus on what has been 
                 dubbed an “enhanced expertise” for teaching ELs in general education 
                 classrooms (Coady, Harper, & de Jong, 2013, p. 89). This expertise includes 
                 knowledge not only of research-tested teaching strategies but also solid 
                 understandings of second language learning processes, the language of school 
                 and content areas, and the impact that home and school cultures have on 
                 minority youths’ schooling and identity (Schleppegrell, 2004; Téllez & Wax-
                 man, 2006; Valdés, Capitelli, & Alvarez, 2010).
                    Despite a clear picture of the goal (what teachers ought to know and be able 
                 to do), we understand little about the initial attitudes and confidence levels of 
                 pre-service teachers as they begin their teaching journey with English learn-
                 ers in the classroom. What, for example, do new pre-service teachers believe 
                 about teaching ELs, second language learners, and immigrant/newcomer 
                 youth? How do particular experiences with cultural and linguistic diversity 
                 (or the lack of such experiences) inform new pre-service teachers’ knowledge 
                 and beliefs about teaching ELs? If teacher preparation programs are to move 
                 pre-service teachers along the path toward an enhanced expertise, we need 
                 to know where pre-service teachers are as they enter professional education.
                    Most U.S. teachers are European Americans from middle-class back-
                 grounds and monolingual speakers of English (Gay, 2005). Many of their 
                 students, however, are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. 
                 Subsequently many teachers do not share the same cultural frames of refer-
                 ence and points of view as their students (Daniel & Friedman, 2005) and 
                 overall, the teacher corps lacks diversity (García et al., 2010). This can lead to 
                 a disconnect in which teachers are unable to be responsive to the educational 
                 needs of their ELs. “Research indicates that teachers believe they have not 
                 been adequately prepared to teach children from cultural and linguistic back-
                 grounds different from their own and that they need to learn more specific 
                 skills to do so” (Daniel & Friedman, 2005, 2). Hence, the attitudes that the 
                 pre-service teachers might have toward educating ELs even before starting 
                 their teacher education journey deserves more research attention.
       TEP 30(3).indb   444                                                             22-08-2017   20:02:15
                      Pre-service Teachers’ Confidence and Attitudes toward Teaching English Learners         445
                 Factors that Affect Attitudes and Confidence of Pre-service Teachers
                 Attitudes can affect pre-service teachers’ confidence when working with 
                 ELs in a classroom setting. For a change in attitudes to occur, pre-service 
                 teachers must examine their own cultural experiences, beliefs, and values 
                 (Souto-Manning, 2013) and acknowledge the way that their own attitudes 
                 shape their teaching. Students’ attitudes, confidence, and their ability to work 
                 successfully with ELs have been shown to be influenced by international 
                 experiences (such as living, traveling, or studying abroad), second language 
                 acquisition, and prior experiences working and being around ELs. Finally, 
                 attitudes and confidence toward working with ELs can be transformed by a 
                 well-designed set of teacher education experiences in the classroom and the 
                 practicum experiences.
                 International Experiences
                 Research has shown that there is little controversy surrounding the general 
                 value of international travel and/or study experiences on pre-service teachers 
                 (Willard-Holt, 2001). Study abroad and teaching abroad experiences have 
                 been shown to be highly beneficial in preparing teachers for global education 
                 defined by Merryfield as “education that develops the knowledge, skills, and 
                 attitudes that are the basis for decision making and participation in a world 
                 characterized by cultural pluralism, interconnectedness, and international 
                 economic competition” (1995, p. 1). Willard-Holt (2001) reports that pre-
                 service teachers documented professional changes as a result of their short 
                 visit to Mexico including their realizations of what it is like to be a minority. 
                 These professional changes resulted in teachers reporting that they were less 
                 likely to prejudge students based on cultural or linguistic differences. In addi-
                 tion, pre-service teachers reported a conceptual change in how they viewed 
                 teaching that pointed to a more global perspective. Pence and Macgillivray 
                 (2007) found that international field experiences provided pre-service teach-
                 ers with benefits such as increased confidence and a better appreciation and 
                 respect for differences of others and other cultures. Furthermore, through 
                 observations and student comments in their reflective writing and question-
                 naires, the authors found that the international field experience (in Rome, in 
                 this case) “challenged their preconceptions of culturally different others, how 
                 schools and classrooms should be structured, their personal and professional 
                 beliefs, and, ultimately, helped them grow as individuals and future teach-
                 ers” (p. 14). Finally, Sahin (2008) found that international travel experiences 
                 contributed in a positive way to pre-service teachers’ cultural awareness and 
                 worked to “promote better understanding among peoples of the world” (p. 
                 1786). Results from these studies point to the value of international experi-
                 ences in developing cultural awareness, challenging stereotypes of the “other” 
                 and judging students based on differences in cultural and linguistic back-
       TEP 30(3).indb   445                                                            22-08-2017   20:02:15