Educational philosophies and teaching styles of Oklahoma elementary public school teachers of English language learners

The increased educational responsibility placed on the public schools caused by the changing linguistic makeup of our nation requires that administrators rethink and restructure professional development in a way that will prepare ELL teachers to adequately meet the needs of the growing population of limited English speaking students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the educational philosophies and teaching styles of elementary English Language Learners (ELL) teachers in Oklahoma. This descriptive study examined the educational philosophies and teaching styles of teachers of ELL in elementary public schools of Oklahoma. In order to identify the educational philosophies of the ELL teachers, the Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) was administered on-line. Their preferred teaching style was measured using the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) and was also administered on-line.;More than half of the participants in this study scored highest on the Behaviorist view. Nearly one-fourth of the group scored highest on Progressive thought. The remaining fourth was divided respectively among the Humanistic, Liberal, and Reconstructionist schools. For teaching style, the total score and all of the factor scores overwhelmingly supported a teacher-centered approach by the ELL teachers. The total PALS score can be divided into seven factors in order to identify specific behaviors the teacher may use in the classroom that make up their overall style. The ELL teachers supported a teacher-centered approach on all factors. Using chi-square tests, no significant relationship were found between educational philosophy and gender, years experience, race, and age, but there was a significant relationship when the teachers were grouped by their educational philosophy and their educational level. For teaching style, few relationships were found with the demographic variables.;The possible interaction of philosophy and teaching style was examined using both discriminant analysis and regression analysis. No significant interactions were found.;Cluster analysis was used to identify two distinct groups. The group of 41 is neutral about focusing on content that is relevant to the student while the group of 51 disagrees rather strongly with focusing on content that is relevant to the student.;Based on these findings, conclusions were drawn related teaching in the current environment of No Child Left Behind and to relating teaching to current best practices in language instruction.