THE FUTURE CAN BE PERFECT!: EXPLORING EDUCATORS’ EXPECTATIONS OF THEIR MULTILINGUAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Studies have shown that teachers’ expectations of their students strongly affect the outcomes of their performance in the classroom and, in turn, their career paths as adults. Specific studies have demonstrated that immigrants and English learner students acutely experience the effects of low expectations from their educators. This qualitative narrative inquiry examines educators’ expectations of immigrant and English learner middle school students and attempts an intervention with the intention of raising those expectations. Educators are asked about their existing expectations, provided samples of students’ narratives about their imagined successful futures, then reflect on whether their expectations shifted and, if so, how. Their responses are restoried into coherent narratives demonstrating their thought processes and highlighting their expectations. In contrast to participants in other studies, the participants here all entered the study with reasonably high expectations. As a result, all participants described either no change in expectations or shifting from high to higher based on students’ writing capabilities and specific details in their stories. It was concluded that disseminating students’ stories to educators outside of the English as a second language classroom can affect educators’ expectations.