Perceptions of English Language Learners—Teacher Beliefs, Professional Development and Student Outcomes: A Literature Review

Across America, linguistically disadvantaged youth are struggling through English language arts courses without proper support in scaffolding and/or differentiated instruction. Teachers’ beliefs affect their classroom instruction, classroom management, and classroom culture. Thus, the need for research is of utmost importance as students are being pushed through the educational system without the support or respect that they deserve. This literature review examines the connection between teachers’ attitudes and perceptions of English Language Learners (ELLs) and how these thought forms affect classroom instruction. We narrowed our focus to identify studies and analyze teachers’ perceptions while servicing ELL students, specifically Latino/a English language learners. We discerned data and various levels of teacher-student engagement based on studies centered around various levels of teacher experience, all in relation to ELLs. Further, we analyzed how professional development altered educators’ attitudes and perceptions of English language learners. The articles reviewed gave insight into teacher perceptions and how most educators felt inadequately prepared to teach those whose first language was not English. By studying teachers’ viewpoints—through qualitative and quantitative analyses—we confirmed a need for professional development that will improve not only how content is learned for an English language learner, but the relationships those students encounter as well.


Introduction
As English teachers in Texas, the first two authors daily see the need for more educators to be better prepared for the growing English Language Learner (ELL) population. Educators need to be well suited for the ELL trends in education that are constantly accelerating. There has been an increase of enrolled ELLs not only in border states, but across the United States as a whole. Of the articles reviewed, several authors open their research by highlighting the growing ELL population. For instance, two different research teams wrote,  "In the United States, rising numbers of students are currently classified as English language learners" (Mellom et al., 2018, p. 98).
 "It is well known that English language learners (ELLs) are a significantly growing population in U.S. schools in all regions of the country (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2017)" (Andrei et al., 2018, p. 1).
Further, some teachers have not had the most recent trainings available to those who teach ELLs, particularly in secondary education. One study investigated how districts in the southern states of the U.S.
were ill-equipped to educate ELLs based on inexperience with both Latin American culture and working with ELLs. Mellom et al. (2018) report, "In many parts of the United States, such as the American South, this situation is further complicated by the fact that Latino ELLs are typically enrolled in schools that do not have experience serving either Latino students or ELLs" (p. 98). This literature review explores many options; as wide as teacher beliefs and professional development and seeing how different states and schools address the rise of ELLs in their educational system. Likewise, we considered a broader global search to determine if research on teachers of English language learners might provide additional information to inform this study. We sought to gather data to bridge the gap to help teachers better serve a growing English language learner student population.
In overview of our articles, we determine a select sample of key definitions, to establish a shared knowledge base for our readers, of the traditional education jargon associated with the English language arts curriculum in service to ELLs (see Table 1). In addition to consideration of jargon, we focused on words that centered around the definitions that were imperative to our study and conducive to comprehending the demographic of students. Further, Galvan and Galvan (2017) report, "A table of definitions can be helpful if there are diverse definitions of a given variable" (p. 89). Further supporting that by defining our terms and providing further explanation on how these words correlate with our research, we can make deeper, more meaningful connections. Thus, our readers will find clarity and coherence and the review will be strengthened in its "methodology integrity" (APA, 2020, p. 108). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 1, No. 1, 2020 103 Published by SCHOLINK INC.  Lachance et al. (2018) study many participant responses to get to the meaning of academic language. There appears to be what they called, "a unified common understanding and comprehensive definition of academic language and was not noted…Emphasis on academic vocabulary needed for academic language and conceptual understanding in core content areas was a recurring theme" (p. 8). L2 Learner Further, Kibler and Valdés (2016) describe students as L2 learners "[when] an individual whose task of acquisition/development is seen as not yet finished" (p. 102).

Long-term
English Learner Kibler and Valdés (2016) describe students as "long-term English learners [which are] students who have not successfully passed language examinations used to measure English proficiency in American schools" (p. 97).
Opportunities to Learn König et al. (2017) provide this data-driven analysis as "part of their teacher preparation program, thus providing detailed insight into how they shape the

Authors' Positionality
Our experience as high school teachers serving ELLs, has provided the vantage from which we see the need for a better structured professional learning environment to help develop our learners to the best of their English language capabilities; thus, we determined to exclude any articles in relation to ELLs that were not conducive to this targeted population of students. Professional development offered in our district, specifically trainings centered around ELLs, is growing tremendously but is comparatively lacking when geared towards secondary education. During a recent school year, the district posted available trainings called Bella Noche, but these trainings were limited to elementary teachers only.
However, secondary teachers recently have been able to participate in these trainings. Learning a language is not just limited to primary school but, rather, should be continued into secondary school.

Explanation of Methodology and Focus of Analysis
We see the use of tables to further construct knowledge of the topic in a way that is considered valid in research. Data tables are encouraged by Galvan and Galvan (2017) to "deal with complex matters that might be difficult for your readers to follow in the text" (p. 92). We consider our topic complex because our articles show the rise of ELLs across the United States. With this increase comes frustration with educators not knowing how to properly serve their students. One study examined how teachers' attitudes towards ELLs altered their instruction in the classroom. Carley Rizzuto (2017) explained how, "Unfortunately, many mainstream teachers hold deficit views toward the ELLs in their classrooms (Garcia, 2015). In addition, researchers have also established that teachers across U.S. public schools have largely developed negative theories about mainstream ELL students' ability to learn (Cummins, 2001;Gándara, Maxwell-Jolly, & Driscoll, 2005;Garcia, 2015)" (p. 183). We considered the many ways this information could be searched and used those keywords to build the foundation of our research (see Table 2). We initiated research using WorldCat, as encouraged by Galvan and Galvan (2017), because "Most scholars that [they] consulted prefer to use WorldCat because they consider the search results to be more trustworthy and comprehensive" (p. 20). We used Boolean operators such as "AND," "OR," and "NOT" to narrow our focus and attempted to eliminate all excess content that we did not consider conducive to our study. When beginning our initial research, we tried to limit our sources to strictly focus on ELLs in secondary education but were unable to locate enough sources, so studies are included from K-12 grade levels. Furthermore, we analyzed the studies with a table of research methods (see Table 3) with a column that summarizes the results of each study reviewed.    ELLs…were also included in this study" (p. 5).

Introduction to Findings
Unfortunately, there is a high population of teachers ill-equipped to address the rising population of English language learners. For instance, "A recent survey that looked at teachers' perspectives toward inclusion of ELLs in regular classes found that lack of time and professional inadequacy were two important notions that affected them in their work" (Hansen-Thomas et al., 2014, p. 311 It is unfortunate, but in the reality of education, these strategies hold true in regards to classroom instruction as teachers think about their lessons, and then their students, so teachers alter their instruction to justify their ignorance and lack of training. Non-certified or ELL-experienced teachers think, they cannot handle something like this, so those educators modify the instruction to water-down the content.
Comparatively, an ELL-experienced teacher may think, if I provide scaffolding and supports, they will be able to complete this assignment.

Introduction of Strengths, Weaknesses, and Gaps
While it was difficult to navigate through such a passionate topic, the research found provided great insight into the literature, studies, and experiments centered around this nationwide dilemma (see Table   4). After dissecting the literature, we have found strengths within the research that provides validity to English language learners and their educators that goes against non-ESL teacher beliefs. Contrastingly, Mellom et al. (2018) reported that several of their treatment participants, non-ESL certified teachers, portrayed various levels of ignorance and/or a complete disregard for their students' native language: A number of participants responded with comments criticizing the students' use of languages other than English in class or even at home. For example, one respondent says, "most of the ELL students in my classroom come from homes where their parents were born in the U.S. They still do not speak English in their homes (mostly)." It is interesting that for this respondent it is almost more damning that the students' parents were born in the U.S. and yet speak a language other than English at home, implying that they have even less justification for not using English exclusively. (p. 102) It is teacher beliefs and perceptions like these that are suffocating generations of learners with mass potential and morality within the educational system. Such statements as these, and others like it, are condemning students before they ever enter the classroom. Inexperienced teachers and/or inflexible educators that do not allow cross-language discussions in class-translating from Spanish to English-are limiting their ELLs potential and snuffing out their light and progression within the community and educational system. Comparatively, there are ESL-certified teachers that do use translation within the classroom and both the students and teacher grow exponentially because of the flexibility in using diverse language within the curriculum. For instance, Mellom et al. (2018) report: Three separate treatment teachers indicated their ELL students use their home language to understand (or help other students understand) class content and reduce frustration. They indicated, "They may use if they have difficulty expressing an idea or vocabulary"; "they will use it to help another student understand something in class"; and "It occurs sometimes when they get frustrated looking for the English word to fit what they are trying to say." These teachers allow their students to use their home language during classroom instruction in order to understand academic content and express themselves accurately and or to assist other students. (p. 104) Further, in some research studies, we found that while there were some gaps in professional development training and how the professional development was used to improve teacher-student relations and classroom instruction, many studies in the Mellom et al. (2018) study showed growth (see Table 7).
While there may have been teacher logs and surveys and the like, the authors did not explicitly label how the professional development was implemented within the districts or participant' classrooms.
Hansen-Thomas et al. (2014) state that "Only 20 US states require some kind of training for teachers of ELLs, but the parameters of this training are not clearly spelled out" (p. 310). Additionally, there were gaps in the research in consideration to locations across the U.S., classroom sizes, and across grade levels.

Teachers' Perceptions and Impact on Instruction and Classroom Environment
One consistent determining factor of how well a classroom functions is based on the teacher's perception of her students and their capabilities and her comfortability in working with that population for the academic year. While some teachers tend to work with the same populations and grade levels, depending on the district and influx of students, teaching assignments can change yearly. Thus, with a rise in English language learners, and varied but minimal certified teachers, it is apparent to see how some non-certified teachers feel overwhelmed by large class sizes of ELLs. However, it is not the size of ELLs that disturb these teacher-mentalities, but rather, their perceptions of ELL capabilities. Along with these-often negative-thought forms, teachers pair such ideas as language, learning capabilities and student comprehension and lump them together based on whether a student knows and understands English. Such strategies and social engineering diminish, weaken, and dilute curriculum, instruction, and classroom environments.
In school settings, where students are often pushed already, an ELL student is further ostracized and segregated by teacher mentalities. In the school building, teachers are the judge and jury, and with such authority, they can create high functioning, excelling classrooms or disintegrate learning environments within the first five minutes of the start of the period. Such perceptions and thoughts like: Can they even speak English, Do they understand me or, worse, They can't do this assignment/activity further implicates students before they walk into the classroom. Then, there are educators that have no background knowledge or lack cultural awareness in consideration of Latin American culture. So, when ill-experienced teachers are trying to teach ELLs, they tend to have limited, and even negatively stereotypical thoughts about their student population and capabilities. Authors Mellom et al. (2018) brought to light some ugly yet thought provoking awareness into just how teacher perceptions affect their opinions of students (see Table 5). Further, Mellom et al. (2018) provide examples of both positive and negative uses of Native Languages and how utilizing students' native tongues can more likely amplify learning compared to suppressing and ostracizing native tongues which, research shows, negates teacher efforts in curriculum and instruction (see Table 6). When looking at the tables, notice the spectrum of emotions that may pool to the surface. Compare the connotations and emotions of the deficit and liberation models. If we were students in these courses, which teacher would we rather have? To which    "A control teacher explained, 'If they don't know a word in English they will ask another student the translated word.
We often ask them how to say things in Spanish so they feel

Conclusion
Throughout our study, we uncovered a need for professional development that will improve not only how content is learned for an English language learner, but the relationships those students encounter as well.
From teacher beliefs and perceptions to results-centered instruction, it is uncommon for an ELL to overcome language barriers put in place by societal norms. Educators need continuous development-professionally, culturally, linguistically, and instructionally. As trends in education change, so do the students, and with these changes comes a need for improvement and growth. To further www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr assist the students, it is suggested that not only do districts provide more ELL-related professional development, but also make more resources available throughout all grade levels. As Sardegna, Lee, and Kusey (2017) found, the "complex and dynamic interplay of learner variables and fluctuations in students' attitudes, strategy use, and self-efficacy" (pp. 106-107) stress the need for longitudinal studies. Teaching English should be about making a language as accessible as possible and working to erase the incorrect stereotypes that others place on non-English speakers. After all, education is about creating opportunities and ensuring success for all students.

CRediT Author Statement
Stephanie