Somali High School English Language Learners in Difference Blindness

This study investigated how five Somali high school immigrant students who were English language learners at a predominantly white high school perceived the mainstream teachers' teaching. The findings reveal that the participants were not accommodated, not given support, and rejected by the mainstream teachers who lacked appropriate training in second language acquisition theories and ESL pedagogy and who endorsed difference blindness. The teachers also ignored and sanctioned any differences the participants brought to school. The teachers' practices ironically resulted in emphasizing differences instead of minimizing, and ultimately caused the participants to feel stigmatized, racialized, and marginalized.