Abstract

Researchers have given limited attention to teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of

English-language learners (ELLs) in mainstream classrooms. Being a culturally responsive

teacher in an inclusive educational system like today is often a requirement alongside the job.

With that being said, teachers’ attitudes to different varieties of English, including Spanish ELL

students, are consistently being overlooked as educators are not taking into account the fact that

ELL students are coming into their classrooms having not known any previous language other

than Spanish. To support these claims, research has suggested that teachers’ attitudes directly

impact their instruction of teaching English to students who are not fluent. In this case, there are

several factors as to why Spanish ELL students are not excelling as they should be in mainstream

classrooms. To contribute to this idea, these articles cover classroom inclusion, anxiety in the

classroom, the notion of mock Spanish, and discrimination as reasons of why Spanish ELL

students are struggling in mainstream classroom settings. On the other hand, it also states various

approaches to accommodating students who are not native in English so that the student may

receive an equal chance to succeed. As educators who are permitted to treat every student the

exact same despite their background, it is fairly common that a teacher will often lack sufficient

knowledge of how to successfully teach English instruction to Spanish ELL students.

Eleni Pappamihel, N. (2002) English as a Second Language Students and English Language

Anxiety: Issues in the Mainstream Classroom. Research in the Teaching of English,

327-349.

This is a study that breaks down why a student is struggling with anxiety when in a

mainstream classroom, attempting to learn English. This article discusses how an ELL

student perceives the information given to them in an inclusive setting, primarily based

on their surrounding. The student will often experience situational anxiety when emerged

in an environment that is unfamiliar to them, rather than in their ESL program. As a result

of the study, the ELL students did say that their overall anxiety increases when learning

English in a mainstream classroom. This contributes to my literature review because

many educators place these students into programs where they either sink or swim; There

is no additional help which correlates to their anxiety in the classroom.

Hill, J. (1999). Language, Race, and White Public Space. American Anthropologist 100(3):

680-689.

This study covers the discrimination and ethical boundaries toward Latino and Chicano

Americans. Most importantly, this article discusses the notion of Mock Spanish and how

it is compared to white crossover uses of African American English. In regards to Mock

Spanish, it delves into if it’s the appropriate and inappropriate use of the language in

social settings. Since this article has much to do with stereotypes, I thought it would be

useful to examine how Mock Spanish would be used in a social setting, such as a
 classroom. Stereotypes are still very prevalent in today’s society and it’s discrimination is

still present in classrooms.

Lippi-Green, R. (2009). Accent, Standard Language Ideology, and Discriminatory Pretext in the

Courts. Language in Society, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jun., 1994), 163-198.

This article gives a overview of language and its use in society, such as settings like

schools and classrooms. It also covers the notion of standard language ideology and the

educational system by prefacing how they correlate in today’s society. One of the article’s

main points made by the author is that what the American Educational System is teaching

children is incorrect and misleading. “These are strong statements, but they are easily

verified. Everyone has anecdotes about language arts instruction from their elementary

school education, but stronger evidence is available in a wide range of texts written for

teachers and children” (Pg. 167). This supports my research by providing an overall

educational perspective on language use in the classroom and the misconceptions that

come along with it.

Rizzuto, Kerry C. (2017). Teachers' Perceptions of ELL Students: Do Their Attitudes Shape

Their Instruction? The Teacher Educator Vol. 2, 182-202.

The purpose of this study was to examine how the teaching practices of early childhood

teachers change and shift as they teach early childhood English Language Learners. This

study was conducted to see if teachers organize specific instruction for the students who

are not fluent in English, or if they don’t help them at all. During this study, culturally
 responsive teaching is brought into question as some of these educators lack any

knowledge of how to instruct an English Language Learner. As a result, implications for

professional development are put into place so that teachers may learn how to become

culturally responsive in the classroom. The literature review has much to do with

culturally responsive teaching so I found this article supporting my claim.

Reeves, J. (2006). Secondary Teacher Attitudes toward Including English-Language Learners in

Mainstream Classrooms. Journal of Educational Research 99(3), 132-142.

This study suggests that the attitudes of some teachers and their inclusion to Spanish ELL

students in mainstream classrooms has been widely overlooked. This research article has

been broken down to examine four different components: Professional development, ELL

inclusion, coursework modifications, and perception of language, as well as language

learning. The article sticks strictly to the teachers; attitudes of these four categories as

data is gathered to determine if it’s mostly positive or mostly negative. While some

teachers were not against training of how to work with ELL students, the majority of

them did not even know where to start. This is important to include in my research

because it can answer as to why students are not receiving proper instruction, therefore

they are not learning.