First Name:
Caroline
Last Name:
Gaskin
Major Department:
Spanish
Thesis Director:
Catherine Fountain
Date of Thesis:
May 2013
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, 25% of public school students speak a language other than English at home. Throughout the history of education in our nation, both obvious and covert limitations have been placed on immigrant children and children of immigrants from their first day in kindergarten, causing damage which can last a lifetime. Children whose native language is not English are now provided access to English as a Second Language programs, representing a step in the path to educational equity.
In the following discussion, I will address how ESL teachers combat the issues which are found in their classrooms by employing both best practices and critical pedagogy. Beginning with the “head” of ESL, I provide an overview of its history and varied methodologies, highlighting SIOP as “best practices.” Then, using teacher interviews and works of educational philosophers, I claim that the “heart” of ESL teaching lies within a framework of critical pedagogy. In combining these two dimensions of the ESL teacher, students are not only provided with a meaningful education, but one that promotes social change and may free English Language Learners from long-standing limitations in order to achieve academically and personally.