English as an Additional Language Teachers’ Beliefs about Syrian Students as Learners of English in Turkish Schools

Abstract

English as an Additional Language (EAL) classes in Turkish public schools are getting more linguistically diverse with the increasing number of students coming from transnational immigrant families. Among these, multilingual students of Syrian background constitute the majority across the primary, middle, and high-school tiers of K-12 education. For the current generation of EAL teachers, teaching non-native Turkish students is a new development and one of the ongoing obstacles in the public education system alongside many others. These obstacles have been extensively demonstrated in education research at large, partially because of the problem-solving nature of critical paradigms. Yet, teachers, particularly EAL teachers are also at a position to realize Syrian (or multilingual transnational) students’ attainment despite all the obstacles and construct their professional beliefs and practices accordingly. In this paper, reporting on an interview study that we conducted with EAL teachers in K-12 public schools, we analyze teachers’ beliefs on Syrian students as EALLs. Taking a grounded approach in our analysis, we pinpoint three sets of beliefs that shape teachers’ discourses about: a) students’ previous experience as EALLs in Syria; b) their communication skills c) the role of L1 in the learning of English as an Additional Language.