Exploring the experiences and motivations of novice bilingual elementary teachers in Southwest Texas: Learning through the educators’ voices)

The qualitative descriptive study focused on how novice bilingual elementary teachers, from one to five years, described their motivations and supportive school environment experiences in one school district in southwest Texas (Change first line to: Novice bilingual elementary teachers have faced diverse challenges in staying in the profession and have turned to other occupations). Based on the author's dissertation, Novice Elementary Teachers' Descriptions of Experiences, Motivations, and Decisions to Remain in the Teaching Profession (Lugo, 2022), this scholarly article includes only the motivators, not demotivators, expressed by novice bilingual elementary teachers. (Add purpose from p. 5 line 43: The purpose was to explore how bilingual novice elementary teachers described their experiences with motivators that led to their decisions to stay in a bilingual setting in a district in southwest Texas. Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman's intrinsic and extrinsic factors theory was used as a foundation theory (Herzberg et al., 2017). The research question explored was: (Delete research question: How do novice bilingual elementary teachers describe their supportive school environment experiences that influenced their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and led to their decisions to remain in the teaching profession? (Change the research question to: How do novice bilingual elementary teachers in southwest Texas describe the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to remain in the profession?) A sample of 9 (change to five) novice bilingual elementary teachers (delete: in a bilingual setting from one independent school district in Texas) was interviewed in 2021 during COVID-19. The methodology (delete: for this study) was qualitative, and a qualitative descriptive design was used. Data was analyzed by applying Braun and Clarke's six steps of thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022). Three themes emerged regarding intrinsic motivations for novice bilingual elementary teachers: school environment, mentors, and student success, (add: and two extrinsic ones were working conditions and leadership.) (Delete: Two themes regarding extrinsic motivations emerged, including working conditions and leadership.) The study provided valuable information for district leaders, school administrators, and novice bilingual elementary teachers on strategies to create a supportive environment (change: with retention initiatives) minimizing attrition rates. A future research recommendation was to measure the effectiveness of mentoring programs in increasing retention and student achievement.