Social-Emotional Learning of Refugee English Language Learners in Early Elementary Grades: Teachers’ Perspectives

When young refugee English language learners (ELLs) start formal schooling in the United States, the social-emotional learning (SEL) appropriate for the U.S. school context may be especially unfamiliar to them. By interviewing six elementary school teachers, this exploratory study examined how teachers describe refugee ELLs’ social-emotional competencies and what pedagogical methods they report using with refugee ELLs for their social-emotional skills development. This study also considered to what extent teachers’ views of their refugee ELL students’ SEL and their self-reported pedagogies reflect their recognition of refugee ELLs’ funds of knowledge, teachers’ development of culturally sustaining pedagogies, and teachers’ use of power to promote equity and social justice in the classroom. The teachers identified a range of social-emotional skills, in particular social awareness and relationship skills, as important for refugee ELLs to develop. To help them, the teachers used various pedagogical methods, including explicit teaching, individualizing, creating a positive climate, and collaboration and support. However, the teachers’ views of their refugee students’ SEL and their self-reported pedagogical methods were largely deficit-oriented. Interpreting our findings within the existing literature from the critical perspective provides critical insights into teachers’ perspectives and approaches to supporting refugee ELLs’ SEL in early elementary grades.