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See Me, Support Me: A platform for student voice can unlock teachers' support for English language learner students
Virginia Isarraras1, Anmol Gupta2, Michael A Ruiz3
1School of Law, University of California, Berkeley.
Objective:
English language learner (ELL) students are one of the most rapidly growing student groups. Yet often, these students are marginalized and do not feel they belong in school. Across two studies, the present work evaluates an adaptation of the lifting the bar (Walton et al., 2021) procedure to give ELL students entering high school a platform called See Me, Support Me to introduce themselves on their terms to an educator of their choosing.
Method:
Study 1, a structured qualitative study (N = 11 ELL students), explored how ELL students use the See Me, Support Me platform. Next, a pilot study (N = 352 general adults) and Study 2 (N = 246 teachers) tested the effect of student self-introductions, included in a one-page letter, on responses to an ELL student.
Results:
Across the studies, we find that students use the platform by affirming their commitment to education and goals to grow academically while asking an educator to partner with them in this growth. In turn, as compared with participants who did not receive this letter, those who did saw the ELL student as more committed to education and were more willing to play mentorship roles for them.
Conclusion:
This work suggests the potential to provide ELL students a platform to vocalize their goals, needs, and ambitions to bring students and teachers together and help both succeed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
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