Abstract

This dissertation explored ten Bosnian families experiences of two English Language Learner (ELL) programs. The two ELL program models were a newcomer program, housed within a junior high school, and an ELL class located within a junior high home school. Similar to many locations in the United States, the newcomer program in this study was established to meet the English language needs and influx of newcomers and was organized around the necessity to consolidate district resources.

The study examined how immigration influx influences America's educational responses to newcomers' educational needs and how these responses create forms of marginality for ELLs. Newcomers programs, while designed to support newcomers with English language acquisition and academic achievement, serve to marginalize ELLs due to program structures which isolate ELLs from the academic core curriculum and interaction with English speaking peers.

This qualitative study examined the stakeholders' experiences of the two ELL programs and how the two programs shaped their experiences. Stakeholders included students, parents, teachers, staff, administrators, and a bilingual assistant. Data was collected over a five-month period via stakeholder interviews, student and parent focus group interviews, classroom observations, all-day shadowing activities, and archival sources. Data from an initial exploration conducted over a two year period was used to triangulate the study's findings. Thus, this three year longitudinal study followed the stakeholders through their educational experiences at the two sites of investigation. The study took place in a small city in the northwest where the influx of newcomers is impacting educational services.

The research findings indicated that the newcomer educational structures served to marginalize ELLs while the overall findings concluded that teaming at both sites of investigation served as a palliative to marginalization.