Abstracts Education

Minimal competencies needed for elementary/secondary ESL and bilingual teachers in Oregon and Washington

by Shervin Behroozian

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this research project was to identify minimum competencies needed for elementary and secondary teachers in the fields of ESL and bilingual education. Procedures Two procedural phases were applied in this study. The first phase was the construction of a survey questionnaire which was vali- dated through the Delphi technique. The final questionnaire, which consisted of 56 competency statements, was mailed to a random sample of ESL and bilingual teachers in Oregon and Washington. The responses of 141 subjects indicated whether the components of the instrument were highly, considerably, moderately, or slightly impor- tant. A two-way analysis of variance was applied for analyses of data and hypotheses testing. Factor analysis was utilized to ascer- tain the groupings of competencies for purposes of curriculum devel- opment. Findings The analysis of variance indicated that, except for 20 compe- tencies, no differences existed between the component scores of ESL and bilingual teachers. Differences due to geographic locations were noted for eight elements. A fifteen-factor solution generated 50 competencies with factor loadings of + .42 or higher. drawn: Conclusions As a result of findings, the following conclusions were 1. Twenty-nine competencies attained mean values above 3.000 and were considered as required components; 25 competencies reached mean scores between 2.000 and 2.999 were recommended elements; and two competencies with mean scores below 2.000 were found to be recom- mended elements for bilingual curriculum, but optional inclusions for ESL curriculum. 2. Nine of the fifteen factors consisted of meaningful competencies according to the rating values assigned by 141 subjects to 56 competency statements. 3. Thirty-six competencies were retained according to teachers' viewpoints; 48 competencies were retained due to geographic areas; only one interaction effect existed. Recommendations Based upon the findings and conclusions the following recommendations were presented: 1. Two questionnaires that typify ESL and bilingual teachers separately should be developed and should contain more detailed competency statements peculiar to each group. 2. The 29 highly recommended (required) competencies may be used by the Oregon and Washington Departments of Education to establish statewide standardization of minimum competency requirements. 3. ESL and bilingual teachers should reach an agreement on competencies that may lead to their endorsement of a common set of requirements.