Emotions, positive comparisons, and unexamined assumptions in novice U.S. teachers’ perspectives on English learners

Abstract This article focuses on a study of the decision-making and patterns of discourse of 21 novice teachers as they engaged with, reflected on, and discussed school-based scenarios about English learners. Employing qualitative content analysis, researchers explore patterns related to intention, bias, and criticality in participants’ discourse. Participants avoided engaging with scenarios where solutions could not be enacted solely within their classroom, expressing hesitation about being disruptive to the school ecosystem and fear of conflict with colleagues, superiors, or parents. They focused on immediate solutions but rarely endeavored to identify the underlying assumptions that compelled characters to act in biased ways. While participants expressed awareness of their own privileged social positionings, they often struggled to connect their social identities to the underlying assumptions that informed their reactions to the scenarios. Notably, participants often used language that exonerated them from the judgment being cast on a character. Additionally, participants repeatedly racialized social identities unrelated to race and expressed distrust of students speaking a language they could not understand. These findings offer insight regarding novice teachers’ intentions and (mis)understandings when working with English learners and offer important implications for teacher educators’ as they prepare pre-service teachers to respond to such learners.