Using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to Support ELL Literacy & Language Acquisition

Developing student literacy is crucial to students’ academic and overall life success (Cummins, 2000a, p. 53), but the literacy acquisition of English Language Learners is hindered by lack of funding for ELL support, teachers who lack knowledge of ELL support, and inability to engage with literacy materials they are given in the classroom (Jones & Carter, 2010). Research says that Ontario teachers feel they are receiving insufficient training to support ELL students, despite the fact that Ontario ELL student populations average at 8% per school (and as high as 92% in some schools [People for Education, 2013].) In addition to a lack of training, it has also been reported that many teachers feel reluctant to work with “low-proficiency ELLs,” and hold “misconceptions about the processes of second-language acquisition [as well as] assumptions (positive and negative) about the race and ethnicity of ELLs” (Reeves, 2006). Research conducted on how to effectively support ELL literacy and language acquisition has shown the effectiveness of enacting Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) (Ladson-Billings, 1995). However, despite the documented success of teachers who have adopted CRP, it remains largely an unrealized educational ideal. This study explores how a sample group of primary-level teachers use CRP to effectively support student literacy (ELL or otherwise), and the personal and professional factors that influence their decision to actively enact CRP in their practice