Elementary Physical Education Teachers’ Experiences in Teaching English Language Learners
Takahiro Sato, Ph.D., and Samuel R. Hodge, Ph.D.
Kent State University and The Ohio State University
School of Teaching, Learning & Curriculum Studies & Department of Human Sciences
Introduction
It is well-known that public schools in the United States (US)
have become more diverse (Jackson, 1993). In 2009, McGlynn
reported that the enrollment of English Language Leaners
(ELLs) over the previous decade had increased at a rate of 57%,
compared with an increase of less than 4% of all other students
in K-12 public schools in the US.
Most teachers believe that speaking an ELL’s native language
at home inhibits English language development (Karabenick &
Clemens Noda, 2004). It is also troubling that, ELLs are not
always served well in public schools (McGlynn, 2009).
Ernst-Slavit and Mason (2011) assert that the meaning of
technical phases in physical education (PE), such as object
control and locomotor skills, are easily understood by most
English-speaking elementary-age students, but are much more
difficult for their ELLs’ peers. Communication differences may
have negative implications for teachers and ELLs in PE settings
(Burden, Columna, Hodge, & Martínez de la Vega Mansilla,
2013).
During 2006-2007, there were more than 35,000 ELLs
enrolled in elementary and secondary public schools in Ohio.
This represents a drastic increase of 68% in the last five years
and 182% in the last ten years (Ohio Department of Education,
2010). They should receive appropriate instruction, yet this is
problematic because “many ELLs spend their school day with
local children and students in the classrooms in which many
teachers have little or no training in the differential learning and
developmental needs” (Herrera & Murray, 2005, p. 6).
Measures
Descriptive and qualitative data were collected between Fall 2010
through Spring semester 2011.
1. A demographic questionnaire
2. Individual face to face interviews
3. Follow-up E-mail interview
4. This study was supported by Ohio Association of Health
Physical Education Recreation and Dance
Trustworthiness and Data Analysis
Member checking was used to reduce the impact of subjective
bias, while establishing trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985;
Patton, 2000).
Data coding with NVivo 8 qualitative data analysis software
(2010) was used to synthesize and code all the material related to a
particular topic or theme.
Peer debriefing was used because it is a process of exposing
oneself to a distinguished peer in a manner paralleling an analytic
session and for the purpose of exploring aspects of inquiry that
might remain only implicit with the inquirer’s mind (Lincoln &
Guba, 1985).
Constant comparative analysis was conducted (Merriam, 1998)
and involves systematically examining and refining variations in
emergent themes.
Two approaches to data analysis: (a) within-case analysis, and
(b) cross-case analysis (Yin, 2003).
Results
Purpose and Research Questions
The purpose of this study was to describe and explain certain
elementary PE teachers’ views about teaching ELLs.
The research questions guiding the study were “How do PE
teachers’ position themselves in teaching ELLs in elementary
schools?’ and “What are PE teachers’ experiences in teaching
ELLs in elementary schools?”
Conceptual Framework
The study was grounded in positioning theory (Harré & van
Langenhove, 1999). Positioning theory is a theory of social behavior
that explains the fluid patterns of dynamic and changing assignments
of rights and duties among groups of social actors (Varela & Harré,
1996). The term positioning means to analyze interpersonal
encounters from a discursive view point (Hollway, 1984).
Method
The research method was descriptive-qualitative, using an in-depth
interviewing protocol for data collection (Seidman, 1998).
Four major themes emerged from the data: (a) Pedagogical challenges; (b)
Traumatized; (c) Irritation, frustrations, & expectations; and (d) Cultural
dissonance.
Pedagogical Challenges
All six teachers regarded their pedagogy as challenged when
instructing ELLs in content and concepts (e.g., hopping, skipping)
common to PE instruction.
Commonly, the ELLs had difficulty speaking, writing, and reading
in PE. To aid the Ells’ learning the teachers used various instructional
strategies (modeling, demonstrations, hand and body gestures).
Language and concepts: Terminology specific to PE content was
especially difficult for ELLs to understand, because of linguistic
differences. These PE concepts and practices do not match the
learning and problem-solving styles and processes of ELLs.
Participants had various challenges, including linguistic and cultural
barriers in teaching locomotor and non-locomotor skills.
Modeling: The ELLs tried to emulate other English speaking
students’ motor skills to earn good grades in PE. They did not exhibit
independent understandings of the concepts and teachers’
expectations.
The research sites for this study were four different school districts
located in Northeast Ohio of the United States.
Traumatized
This theme captures how some students were traumatized in
earlier life experiences.
From these districts, six PE teachers (Mrs. King, Mrs. Holms, Mrs.
Conway, Mrs. Hall, and Mrs. Bowen) were sampled purposively.
Noises and Echoes: Several ELLs were afraid of voice echoes,
noises, and lights in the gym; the teachers stressed safety in the PE
setting before students participated in activities.
TEMPLATE DESIGN © 2008
www.PosterPresentations.com
Results
Establishing Safety: Several ELLs were refugees who previously
had life threatening experiences and encountered persecution on
account of their race, religion, nationality, or political views.
The ELLs sought safe spots during their classes. Those with
refugee status were afraid of objects (e.g., balls) moving around them.
Participants studied post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
concluded that some ELLs exhibited common signs and symptoms of
this condition.
Irritation, frustrations, and expectations
This theme exposes the fact that the PE teachers were irritated
with themselves and ELLs in PE. All six participants were irritated
when teaching the ELLs, because the ELLs were failing to meet the
teachers’ expectations.
Frustration: The teachers positioned themselves as highly
qualified teachers who developed their lesson plans to meet state PE
standards and benchmarks. They believed that all ELLs must
successfully complete their goals and lesson objectives and they were
extremely frustrated when the ELLs failed to meet their expectations.
Exclusion: Participants were concerned that their ELLs might feel
like uninvited guests in PE, because their teachers and/or Englishspeaking schoolmates might marginalize and isolate them.
Cultural Dissonance
This theme captures the existence of cultural dissonance between
the culture of the ELLs and their families, and that of the PE
programs and American schools.
Gender: The teachers found that parents of male ELLs from
Middle Eastern countries prefer male PE teachers over female PE
teachers. Parents of female ELLs from the Middle East, prefer that
their daughters do not participate in any PE courses, regardless of
whether the PE teacher is male or female.
The PE teachers were culturally and responsively unable to
develop new language discourses that relate to the ELLs’ past
language discourses (May, 2008).
The PE teachers explained that the ELLs copied the motor skills
of English-speaking students from demonstrations (Walqui, 2006).
The teachers agreed that they should use scaffolding approaches,
such as bridging and re-presenting. Bridging is when the ELLs learn
new concepts and languages that build on previous knowledge and
understanding (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988).
Although the ELLs might not have prior knowledge of motor
skills from their own backgrounds, the PE teachers somehow bridged
the ELLs’ prior (before joining a PE class in the United States) and
current knowledge of PE.
The PE teachers had opportunities to teach ELL refugee students
who had become physically disabled from war and violence in their
native countries. ELLs who experienced war-related trauma had a
hard time controlling their reactions to auditory stimuli (e.g., noises,
echoes, and bouncing sounds) and exhibited automatic responses to
danger (e.g., looking out for danger and never relaxing).
Although the ELLs in this study were not officially diagnosed
with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by medical doctors., the
ELLs showed similar or common symptoms (re-experiencing,
avoidance, and impaired concentration symptoms) to those listed on
PTSD related websites. None of the ELLs received any supportive or
appropriate early childhood therapy or intervention at elementary
school.
PE teachers struggled with the ELLs’ cultural and social needs
(Yoon, 2008). ELLs’ actions (e.g., participating or withdrawing) are
strongly related to whether teachers implemented the concept of
cultural inclusivity. The ELLs were often positioned by teachers as
deficient or incompetent, and as uninvited guests and not nurtured in
the same spirit of caring at the elementary schools.
Fasting: When ELLs began to attend elementary PE, they
displayed religious differences that require managing so as to
sustain their cultural and traditional beliefs and values during PE.
Five of the teachers were both PE teachers and women, so they
encountered double jeopardy from the parents of the ELLs and
Middle East. There was cultural dissonance; in that, it seemed that
some ELLs could not accept female PE teachers as role models
because females are forbidden and socially excluded from
workplaces in the students’ native countries (Kay, 2006).
Discussion
Recommendations
These six PE teachers positioned their pedagogies as challenged
when teaching elementary-aged ELLs. Much of their struggle had to
do with language differences, the technical terms used in PE
instruction, and cultural and religious differences creating
dissonance between the ELLs and their families on the one hand and
the culture of the schools on the other hand.
The ELLs had culturally and linguistically disparate experiences
between the new and past language discourses.
The PE teachers sought to address two major challenges of (a)
the language of movement patterns and (b) the cultural, social, and
linguistic relevance of ELLs in PE (Au, 1998).
PE teachers must learn to label academic language discourse items
(e.g., skipping, jumping, or dribbling) in both English and the ELLs’
native languages.
In order to overcome the ELLs’ war-related trauma, PE teachers
should communicate with the parents, friends, and local immigration
services and collect information about the ELLs’ war-related trauma.
When the PE teachers handle conflicts between the ELLs and their
peers in PE, the teachers may need to frame this as both individual
and class problems (Lewis, 1996).
School districts must aggressively recruit culturally and
linguistically diverse PE teachers (Burden, Hodge, O’Bryant, &
Harrison, 2004; Burden et al., 2013) and infuse ethnolinguistic
approaches into PE teacher training (Burden et al., 2013; Columna,
Foley, & Lytle, 2010).