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By and large, these teacher-generated conversations indicate teachers are willing to
communicate with school counselors. These interviews, observations, and field notes confirmed
the participating counselors were open to teachers’ input, both content and ESL teachers,
regarding students’ placement in courses after their initial individual student planning sessions
and course selections. In fact, this teacher input was considered vital. The polarization within the
interview results and observation data was reflected in
how
the input was interpreted by the
school counselors to then carry out services. More importantly, if both parties are unclear about
what to do with English learners, the question remains whether or not the counselor/teacher
partnership resulted in successful EL student exposure to curriculum and pedagogy required for
academic language development (Genesee, Gava, Dressler, & Kamil, 2006). Meaning, the well-
intended conversations between the counselors and the teachers may or may not result in ELs
gaining access to teachers who feel confident with pedagogical practices to make the content
subjects comprehensible, teaching language and content simultaneously (Ovando, Collier, &
Combs, 2003; Short & Fitzsimmons, 2007; Walqui, 2000a, 2000b; Genesee, 2000; World-Class
Instructional Design and Assessment [WIDA], 2014). Even with a desired attempt to serve ELs,
the crucial need remains for teachers and school counselors to have
in-depth
understandings on
how to effectively frame comprehensive pedagogical methodologies and additional student
support services for language development processes and academic achievement.
Significance and Transformative Recommendations
In conclusion, the findings of this study solidified and extended the current literature
regarding the role of the school counselor for the 21
st
century as advocates for collaborative
educational transformation. (Albers, Hoffman, & Lundahl, 2009; Arredondo, Tovar-Blank, &
Parham, 2008; ASCA, 2005; Bemark, 2000; NCDPI, 2014). This research is an urgent
benchmark to generate new perspectives on the challenges educators face while working with
ELs and ways in which comprehensive partnerships between school counselors and teachers can
equip them for the charge. However, within these partnerships, it is evident that teachers and
school counselors need specific criteria to discuss. A framework for collaborative discourse with
specific attention to facets of EL students’ academic backgrounds, language proficiencies,
socio-cultural contexts for learning, as well as other pertinent details could serve to build a more
foundationally-sound platform for pedagogical change (Parsons, 2009; WIDA, 2014). The needs
for teachers and counselors to be well-informed is two-fold. First, they must understand that
variations for language support in the classroom is vital for academic language development.
Second, they must understand
how
to collaborate about this. (Camot, & O’Malley, 1994;
O’Malley, & Chamot, 1989; WIDA, 2014).
Ultimately, the study reveals that school counselor education programs, while highly
grounded in foundational theory, must look to find innovative ways to shape the parameters of
experiences of teachers. These must support practitioners’ comprehensive demonstration of a
true sense of preparedness to work with English learners. A resounding recommendation links
to strategic connections during clinical experiences to specifically involve English learners and
the identified beneficial skills related to best professional practices while comprehensively
collaborating with skilled teachers in this area. Another significant recommendation is to
examine the option of infusing elements of second language acquisition and true comparative
education into current course syllabi for teachers and school counselors. The notion of inter-
disciplinary approaches between education faculty and Teaching English as a Second Language