Exploring Elementary School Teachers’ and Students’ Lived Experiences of Students’ Bilingualism Problems

This study aimed to explore Shadegan elementary school teachers’ and students’ lived experiences of problems associated with students’ bilingualism in the academic year of 2021-2022. This qualitative study adopted a descriptive phenomenological approach. The statistical population of the study consisted of all teachers and students at the elementary schools of Shadegan, Khuzestan province, Iran. The selection of participants was done through purposive sampling and continued until data saturation was achieved. Participants included six teachers (three male and three female) and six bilingual students (three male and three female) selected from elementary schools. Colaizzi’s seven-step method of data analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings yielded four main themes, each consisting of a number of sub-themes. The first theme was “psychological issues and problems”, incorporating the sub-themes of feeling humiliation and despair and experiencing confusion and ambiguity. The second theme was “language issues”, including the sub-themes of failing to understand the educational materials and having difficulty in reading and writing. ”Educational issues” formed the third major theme, which comprised the sub-themes of decline and reduction in educational progress and increase in teachers’ responsibilities. Finally, the fourth theme was “structural and environmental factors”, which consisted of the sub-themes of economic and environmental factors, the incompatibility of the evaluation method with the ability of bilingual students, and bilingual families’ lack of language skills. The result of the study revealed that the elementary school teachers’ and students’ lived experiences of the problems related to students’ bilingualism were multi-dimensional and involved psychological, linguistic, structural, and environmental issues. These lived experiences can be improved through the cultural cooperation of families.