Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Education

Primary Advisor

Dr. Melinda B. Carver

Second Advisor

Dr. Angela M. Tagaris

Third Advisor

Dr. Sarah J. Yates

Abstract

Teachers are to implement frequent pedagogical self-reflection to effectively differentiate instruction in whole-class and small-group settings for English language learners (ELLs). This qualitative, exploratory case study explored the perspectives of general elementary education teachers toward implementing varied instructional strategies used to target the literacy learning gap in ELLs. This current study investigated 12 kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers from a public charter school in southern Florida who participated in an interview or completed a journal entry. Information retrieved from scholarly literature and data were analyzed to answer this study’s three research questions. Findings determined the importance of teachers’ learning about their ELLs’ identities, incorporating their culture during instruction and in the classroom environment, and providing scaffolding and multilingual support through the use of visual, physical, linguistic, and auditory bilingual strategies. Participants also demonstrated the need to assess their students properly, both informally and formally, to gauge their understanding, thereby helping ELLs reach their on-grade-level literacy goals.

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