A Bourdieuian Analysis: Teachers’ Beliefs about English Language Learners' Academic Challenges (pp. 40-55)

Abstract

Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus, this work analyzes five teachers' beliefs about English language learners' academic challenges. In reference to reproductive and inventive qualities of habitus, this article argues that teachers' beliefs that are linked to their socio-cultural backgrounds can delimit or enhance ELLs' academic lives, as those beliefs shape what teachers teach and what they see as a productive pedagogy in working with ELLs. The analysis indicates that tensions across teachers' beliefs, as well as within each teacher's set of beliefs, can serve as an opening to transform their perspectives toward more equitable pedagogical practices for ELLs.