Date of Award

Fall 2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Education

Primary Advisor

Dr. Amy Bratten

Second Advisor

Dr. Thomas Gollery

Third Advisor

Dr. Annette Graves

Abstract

Students whose first language is not English (English language learners or ELLs) make up the fastest growing demographic in public schools. School districts nationwide have implemented dual language programs as a way to help close the achievement gap between ELLs and native English speaking students, however, a main concern of implementing a dual language program is the shortage of prepared and qualified teachers. The purpose of this study was to assist school districts, dual language schools, and dual language teachers in determining what training and support teachers need to be successful in a dual language program. This study surveyed dual language teachers from five schools located in one school district in the state of Florida through an online survey using Likert-scale. The study’s findings were favorable in that teachers indicated they were confident overall in their ability to teach in a dual language classroom setting, and were confident in their ability to teach first language (English) development skills with a slightly higher mean score than the confidence level in teaching second language (Spanish) skills. The study also found areas of improvement: utilizing paraprofessionals in the dual language classroom, and administrative support of dual language programs.

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