Exploring The Acculturation Of Teachers From Spain Working In A U.S. Urban Dual Language Immersion Elementary School

Abstract

Employing best practices in the acculturation of teachers new to a given school is especially important when the new teachers are from another country, speak a primary language other than English, and have usually taught exclusively in their home country. Such is the case for the participants of this study, who were hired to work in a U.S. dual language immersion school through the J-1 visa visiting teachers program. This study examined how these teachers were acculturated into their schools and how acculturation affected their overall experience. The research questions were explored via multiple-case design. The cases were the six then-current visiting teachers from Spain at the selected urban, U.S. dual language immersion school. The methods used to collect data were one-on-one interviews with each of the participants, a focus group interview with the participants together, and a review of documents pertinent to the intended and actual acculturation of the participants. The results showed that the participating Spanish visiting teachers struggled to adjust in their first year, especially, because of not experiencing a strong acculturation from their host school. The study also illuminated how participating U.S. host schools might improve their acculturation practices to bridge pedagogical and cultural gaps for their visiting teachers.