Background/Purpose In the United States, during the last 13 years, the enrollment of English Language Leaners (ELLs) has grown at a rate of 57% compared to less than 4% of all other students in K-12 public schools (McGlynn, 2009). Ernst-Slavit and Mason (2011) asserted that the meaning of language phases in physical education, such as object control and locomotor skills, are easily understood by most English speaking elementary-age students, but are much more difficult for their peers who are ELLs. Communication differences tend to have negative implications for teachers and ELLs in physical education(Burden et al., in-press). The purpose of the current study was to describe and explain elementary physical education teachers' views about teaching English Language Learners in physical education.
Method The participants were six physical education teachers in the Midwest region of the US. Situated in positioning theory (Harré & van Langenhove, 1999), the research method was descriptive-qualitative. The primary sources of data were face-to-face interviews (Seidman, 1998) and the transcript data were analyzed using NVivo 8 software and constant comparative method (Merrian, 1998).
Analysis/Results Four major interrelated and complex themes emerged from the data. These themes were: (a) teaching difficulty, (b) adjustment, (c) irritation, and (d) cultural dissonance.
Conclusions This study encourages physical education teacher education program faculty to use existing or develop courses (e.g., coursework in intercultural language education and intercultural competence). Likewise school districts should offer professional development workshops on implementing culturally and ethnolinguistically relevant pedagogies in physical education.
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