Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

Advisor

Noel Gray

Committee Member

John Harrison

Committee Member

Kimberly Durham

Keywords

English language learners, misplacement of ELL students, teacher perceptions.

Abstract

This dissertation was designed to provide better understanding of the misplacement of ELL students in mathematics courses at the secondary grade levels based on the perspective of teachers. The fact that ELL students are faced with challenges to communicate fluently in English has hindered their progress to effectively learn mathematics. Most often ELL students who are capable of performing well in more advanced mathematics classes are instead placed at lower levels. As a result, ELL students may be victims of educators’ biases as it relates to the language barrier.

For this study, a basic qualitative research design was used. The aim of this approach was to gather perspectives of secondary school mathematics teachers regarding promoting ELL students to higher level mathematics courses. The participants consisted of mathematics teachers who are currently teaching or have taught ELL students at the secondary levels. Data collection consisted 10 of one-on-one interviews that allowed participants to share perspectives based on their experiences of teaching mathematics to ELL students. The data collected from these interviews were inductively thematically analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase process to identify common themes.

The analysis of the data uncovered 8 common themes among teachers and ELL students in mathematics that may be seen as barriers to the underrepresentation of English Language learners in higher-level mathematics. The themes were: (a) Language Proficiency vs. Mathematical Ability; (b) Assessment and Placement Procedures; (c) Long-term Academic Consequences; (d) Holistic Assessment of ELL Students Capabilities; (e) Balancing Opportunity and Readiness; (f); Advocacy and Equity Considerations for ELL Students (g); Enhanced Assessment Tools and Procedures; and (h) Professional Development and Specialized Training.

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