An ESL Learning Center: A Critical Case Study

This study explored a triangular relationship among teachers, students, and administrators at an English as Second Language (ESL) learning center in a mid-sized, private, non-profit university in the Midwest in the United States. Through the use of critical theory, this study simultaneously gave the three groups of stakeholders voices, interwove their comments, and emerged a system thinking: a whole picture of an ESL learning center. The result from this study revealed two administrators’ pressure and policies, five teachers’ frustration, and nine students’ learning agonies. In terms of the findings, this study grounded a leadership theory of an ESL learning center management.