Abstract:

This study documents a collection of language practices specifically implemented for the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL) in a public urban high school in Arizona. The purpose of this study was to investigate the individual experiences of four Mexican immigrant students in a beginning English as a Second language classroom to understand how they are situated in specific social, historical, and cultural contexts and how those contexts may impact their English language learning experiences.

Using sociocultural approaches to the study of language and literacy as theoretical and conceptual frameworks, this study responds to the following research questions: What language practices take place in a beginning English as a Second Language high school classroom? How do those practices relate to second language learning? What are student participants' perceptions of what it means to be a successful English language learner in high school? What language practices take place at the institutional level for the teaching of English to recent immigrant students in high school?

Using analytic induction methodology, data collection and data analysis processes were realized at three different but interrelated levels of inquiry: (1) instructional language practices in one beginning English as a Second Language classroom; (2) students' perceptions of their experiences learning English at school; and (3) language practices for the teaching of English at the larger institutional level (school, district, state). In addition, data management and analysis were supported by the use of qualitative research software (Atlas.Ti 5.1).

The findings in this study reveal that the language practices for the teaching of English as a second language at the levels of inquiry that comprised this study resulted in limited access to English for the student participants in this dissertation.