ABSTRACT
The author's interest in ESL (English as a Second Language) students began when the author conducted his/her master's thesis research on Native language loss and revival in an Edmonton inner city school Native awareness class. The author's study emphasized the significance of first language maintenance to students' identity formation. The various strands of this story then came together, and the author enrolled in a doctoral program in Language Arts education, intent on making the education of language minority students the author's focus. The author was drawn to this topic because of the similarities to my work in Native language education, as well as to the differences. The pedagogical intention was to consider what an ideal community of practice would be for the students in one particular Grade 9 language arts class and to provide direction in making teacher education programs more responsive to issues of cultural and linguistic diversity.
