English in Inclusive Multilingual Preschools. Kirsten Birsak de Jersey

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СКАЧАТЬ 3b-3 partly).

      But what would preschool teachers think if a further language (e.g., English) were offered in a child-appropriate, playful way and consequently children would then experience that learning languages is fun and as a result they would be open for the new experience? The data shows that the majority of the teachers (85.4%) agreed that the children learnt languages in a playful way, which left only a small percentage of preschool teachers who answered partly (14.6%). None of the preschool teachers answered with no (→ statistical data 14).

      Figure 15:

      Statistical data 14: Comment on the public opinion “Children learn a language in a playful way”

      Preschool teachers who answered partly were again generally concerned about the children who were learning German as a second language. But at the same time, they thought that through introducing a foreign language that was unfamiliar to all of the children in a group, German native-speaking children would be able to experience the challenges involved in learning a language – an everyday experience for their peers who are largely non-native speakers of German:

      “Außerdem verstehen die Kinder mit Muttersprache Deutsch dann, wie schwer es für Kinder mit Fremdsprache ist Deutsch zu lernen und umgekehrt, sind alle Kinder mal auf dem gleichen Level! Auch Kinder mit nicht Deutsch-Muttersprache können zeigen was sie können, ihr Auffassungsvermögen ist sehr gut” (qu. 3b-4: yes).

      The comments of the other teachers who opted for yes or partly did not provide any substantial answers apart from very general sweeping comments saying that if another language were introduced the approach would need to be child appropriate. They admitted that they were inexperienced and therefore could not give satisfactory reasons for their choices:

      “Die Methode ist ausschlaggebend” (qu. 3b-4: yes).

      “Kinder sind offen zu lernen, wenn sie dabei Spaß haben und ihre Interessen berücksichtigt werden” (qu. 3b-4: yes).

      “Ich habe keine Erfahrung damit” (qu. 3b-4: partly).

      “Ich denke das stimmt. Ich würde gerne eine solche Einheit ansehen und auch selber daraus lernen” (qu. 3b-4: yes).

      To conclude, it can be said that preschool teachers were aware of the challenges when introducing a foreign language and as a result they voiced real and genuine concerns related to this issue. Their attitudes were based largely on their familiarity with the preschool context and their experiential knowledge that they had of the children learning German. But at the time of the questionnaire survey, they could not include any other perspective that would have informed their choices, for example experiences with teaching the children English or research-based knowledge.

      For the set-up of my teacher education project this meant that teachers’ attitudes would need to be re-addressed by exposing them to credible, first-hand empirical evidence that learning another foreign language actually is a rewarding and joyful experience for the children in the context of the case study. This would involve exposing them to small-scale context-related positive and credible experiences from preschool classroom contexts. It would also mean that research-based knowledge on the principles, approaches and methods of early language teaching and learning would need to be integrated – given the complete lack of theoretical background knowledge on early language learning that the preschool teachers demonstrated in the survey. Through this, participating teachers would be supported to change their attitudes as they would experience that introducing another language in their context would actually be a benefit for the children. It was the only way their partial reluctance to introduce English could be overcome.

      3.4 Preschool teachers’ attitudes towards introducing English in preschool: perspective of the teachers

      While the first part of the survey focused on the challenges and benefits that teachers associated with early language learning as seen from the perspective of the preschool children, the second part of the questionnaire survey focused on the teachers’ attitudes which related to themselves as potential preschool English teachers who were asked to consider introducing English in their groups: Would they think that this new area of responsibility would more likely be a benefit or a burden for them? The preschool teachers were therefore asked the following questions:

      From your perspective as preschool teacher, would you consider teaching English rather as a benefit or a burden? (Was halten Sie aus Sicht einer pädagogischen Fachkraft davon, die Fremdsprache Englisch im Kindergarten anzubieten? Eher eine Bereicherung oder eher eine Belastung?) (question 4a).

       Can you imagine offering English yourself in your preschool? (Können Sie sich vorstellen, Englisch in Ihrem Kindergarten anzubieten?) (question 4c).

      For the set-up of the teacher education project, it would be particularly relevant to be able to identify the possible reasons why teachers might consider teaching English as a burden and consequently be reluctant to become involved in the first place (→ question 4a): their needs would have to be addressed and be taken seriously and contextual support would have to be provided to overcome contextual constraints which could impede the implementation of the teacher education project. Question 4 therefore explicitly asked for preschool teachers’ competences they might have developed in this area: Had they attended the course on how to teach foreign languages during their studies and what were their motives to participate or not to participate (→ questions 4b, 4b-1). Question 4 also aimed to find out whether the teachers could imagine introducing English themselves in their groups (→ question 4c) and if they opted for no, what were the reasons for their reluctance to do so. Predictable reasons for their reluctance that were included in the questionnaire comprised their lack of sufficient communicative English language competence (→ question 4c-1); their general readiness and disposition to teach English to their groups if appropriate support was provided (→ question 4c-2) (this question also aimed at identifying those preschool teachers who would not become involved under any circumstances even if support were provided for them) and the contextual conditions at their respective preschool that they thought would support or hinder them from accommodating English in the daily life of preschool (→ question 4c-3). The questionnaire provided the option to name any other reasons why they could not imagine introducing English in their preschool (→ question 4c-4). A final comment for teachers to write whatever they felt was important to them was added at the end (not numbered in questionnaire).

      Before presenting results related to teachers’ attitudes towards introducing English in their preschool by relating them to their personal and professional qualifications to teach English, it is interesting to look at the ratio of teachers who would see it as a benefit respectively who would feel it was a burden and those who could imagine teaching it respectively who would be reluctant to do so. Over half of the preschool teachers believed that they would benefit from teaching English in preschool (57.5%) (→ statistical data 15). Those who would consider it to be a burden were in the minority. However, when asked specifically about teaching English themselves, the majority of the preschool teachers could not imagine teaching it (65.1%) (→ statistical data 16). The discrepancy that they would find it a benefit but could not imagine teaching it, together with the already substantial percentage of preschool teachers that felt it would be a burden to introduce English to their groups in the first place (42.5%) (→ statistical data 15) confirm that the potential constraints that preschool teachers see from their perspectives need to be analysed and be taken seriously if English were to be introduced on a large-scale in preschools.

      Figure 16:

      Statistical СКАЧАТЬ