TY  - JOUR
T1  - Foreign Language Teaching in Early Childhood Education: Attitudes and Beliefs of Pre-service Teachers
TT  - Okul Öncesi Eğitiminde Yabancı Dil Öğretimi:  Öğretmen Adaylarının Tutumları ve İnançları
AU  - Asma, Burak
AU  - Genç İlter, Binnur
AU  - Saka, Fatma Özlem
PY  - 2025
DA  - February
Y2  - 2025
DO  - 10.30786/jef.1378253
JF  - Journal of Education and Future
JO  - JEF
PB  - Aydın Yayıncılık
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2146-8249
SP  - 45
EP  - 62
IS  - 27
LA  - en
AB  - This study examines changes in attitudes towards foreign language teaching and beliefs about foreign language education among pre-service preschool teachers from multiple perspectives. The research was conducted within the framework of a training program organized under the TÜBİTAK 2237-A Scientific Education Activities Support initiative, which aimed to enhance the foreign language skills of pre-service preschool teachers. The participants underwent a 40-hour training program comprising both theoretical and practical components. The research sample consisted of 18 pre-service preschool teachers enrolled in various universities across Turkey. A sequential transformational research design, a mixed-method approach, was employed, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative data sources. The collected data were analyzed using comparative tests and inductive thematic analysis. The findings reveal shifts in attitudes towards foreign language teaching in preschool education, along with insights into the adequacy of foreign language training at universities, the teaching responsibilities associated with foreign language instruction in preschools, the necessity of introducing foreign languages at the preschool level, concerns regarding potential negative effects of early foreign language learning, and the school preferences of pre-service preschool teachers. The study concludes with recommendations for policymakers, educators, and future research.
KW  - Preschool
KW  - Language Education
KW  - Early Childhood Education
KW  - Language Learning in Preschools
KW  - pre-service preschool teachers
N2  - Bu araştırma, okul öncesi öğretmeni adaylarının yabancı dil öğretimine yönelik tutumlarındaki ve yabancı dil eğitimi hakkındaki inançlarındaki değişiklikleri çeşitli açılardan incelemektedir. Araştırma kapsamında, yabancı dil becerilerini geliştirmeyi amaçlayan bir eğitim programı araştırma ortamı olarak kullanılmıştır. Katılımcılar, TÜBİTAK 2237-A Bilimsel Eğitim Etkinlikleri Desteği Programı kapsamında yürütülen, teorik ve uygulamalı derslerden oluşan 40 saatlik bir eğitim programına katılmıştır. Çalışma grubu, Türkiye'deki farklı üniversitelere kayıtlı 18 okul öncesi öğretmeni adayından oluşmuştur. Araştırma hem nitel hem de nicel veri kaynaklarını kullanan karma bir araştırma yöntemi olan sıralı dönüşümsel araştırma tasarımına uygun olarak yürütülmüştür. Toplanan veriler, karşılaştırma testleri ve içerik analizi tekniği kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın bulguları, anaokullarındaki yabancı dil öğretimine yönelik tutumların değişimini, üniversitelerdeki yabancı dil eğitiminin yeterliliğini, anaokullarındaki yabancı dil öğretim sorumluluklarını, anaokulu döneminde yabancı dil öğretiminin gerekliliğini, erken yaşta yabancı dil öğrenmenin olumsuz etkilerini ve anaokulu öğretmeni adaylarının okul türleri tercihlerini ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma, politika yapıcılara, öğretmenlere ve gelecekteki çalışmalara önerilerle sona ermektedir.
CR  - Al-Darwish, S. (2012). Kindergarten children and language learning: Missing pillars for language acquisition. International Journal of Higher Education, 2(1), 44–52. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v2n1p44
CR  - Almeida, F. (2018). Strategies to perform a mixed methods study. European Journal of Education Studies, 5(1). 137-151. https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.1406214.svg
CR  - Anşin, S. (2006). Çocuklarda yabancı dil öğretimi. D.Ü. Ziya Gökalp Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 6, 9-20. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/zgefd/issue/47964/606853
CR  - Auleear Owodally, A. M. (2015). Supporting early oral language skills for preschool ELL in an EFL context, Mauritius: Possibilities and challenges. Early Child Development and Care, 185(2), 226–243. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2014.919494
CR  - Baki, A., & Gökçek, T. (2012). Karma yöntem araştırmalarına genel bir bakış. Elektronik Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11(42), 1-21. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/esosder/issue/6156/82721
CR  - Bayyurt, Y. (2012, Kasım). 4+ 4+ 4 Eğitim sisteminde erken yaşta yabancı dil eğitimi. Yabancı Dil Eğitimi Çalıştayı, Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Ankara.
CR  - Baqiyudin, G., Nurhasan, N., & Suroto, S. (2023). Improving The Gross Motor Skills Of Mentally Retarded Children Through Rhythmic Brain Gym Activities. International Journal of Educational Research & Social Sciences, 4(5), 845-849. https://doi.org/10.51601/ijersc.v4i5.726
CR  - Bernstein, K. A., Kilinc, S., Troxel Deeg, M., Marley, S. C., Farrand, K. M., & Kelley, M. F. (2021). Language ideologies of Arizona preschool teachers implementing dual language teaching for the first time: pro-multilingual beliefs, practical concerns. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 24(4), 457–480. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1476456
CR  - Černà, M. (2015). Pre-primary English language learning and teacher education in the Czech Republic. In S. Mourão & M. Lourenço (Eds.), Early years second language education: International perspectives on theory and practice (pp. 165–176). Routledge.
CR  - Conboy, B. (2013). Neuroscience research: How experience with one or multiple languages affects the developing brain. In Child Development Division, California Department of Education (CDE) (Ed.), California’s Best Practices for Young Dual Language Learners: Research Overview Papers.
CR  - Chu, Y.-W. (2014). Teachers’ beliefs in teaching english for kids at a kindergarten: A case study of students from the Department of Applied English. English Language Teaching, 7(10), 100–112. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v7n10p100
CR  - Çelik, Ö. (2017). Ortaokul fen bilimleri dersi 6.sınıf öğretim programı vücudumuzdaki sistemler teması bakımından değerlendirilmesi: Konya il merkezi örneği [Yüksek lisans tezi, Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi]. Ulusal Tez Merkezi.
CR  - Çelik, S., & Işık, A. (2019). İlkokullarda yabancı dil öğretimi ile ilgili öğretmen görüşleri. Manisa Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 7(1), 1-11. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/mcbuefd/issue/54488/742554
CR  - Çetintaş, B. G., & Yazıcı, Z. (2016). Erken çocukluk döneminde anaokulu ve anasınıflarında iki dilli eğitim uygulamaları ve deneyimleri üzerine öğretmen görüşleri. Akdeniz İnsani Bilimler Dergisi, 6(2), 173-187. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/mjh/issue/82957/1427793
CR  - Domino, G., & Domino, M. L. (2006). Psychological testing: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.
CR  - Ellis, G. (2016). A short, in-service training course for pre-school teachers in France. In V. A. Murphy & M. 
Evangelou (Eds.), Early Childhood Education in English for Speakers of Other Languages (pp. 265–278). British Council.
CR  - Espinosa, L. (2015). Getting it right for young children from diverse backgrounds: Applying Research to improve practice (2nd Ed.). Pearson.
CR  - Fauzi, W. J., Radzuan, N. R. M., Ngah, E., Rani, A. A., & Ali, F. (2021). Digitising English language learning for early childhood educators in Malaysian context: The rationale. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, 15(3), 113–134. https://doi.org/10.17206/apjrece.2021.15.3.113
CR  - Fojkar, M. D., & Skubic, D. (2017). Pre-Service Preschool Teachers' Beliefs about Foreign Language Learning and Early Foreign Language Teaching in Slovenia. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 7(4), 85-104. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1165346
CR  - Gimatdinova Çağaç, F. (2018). Benefits of learning a foreign language at an early age. The Journal of International Social Research, 11(59), 132-137. http://dx.doi.org/10.17719/jisr.2018.2622
CR  - Goh, P. S.-C. (2019). Preschool teachers’ perspectives on using english language to teach. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 19(4), 346–362. https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2019-1904-18
CR  - Gönül, S. (2020). Sınıf öğretmenlerinin ilkokullarda yabancı dil öğretimine ilişkin görüşleri [Yüksek lisans tezi, Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi]. Ulusal Tez Merkezi.
CR  - Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177, 263-277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.04.007
CR  - Hegde, A. V., Hewett, B., & Terrell, E. (2018). Examination of teachers’ preparedness and strategies used to teach English language learners in kindergarten. Early Child Development and Care, 188(6), 774–784. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1237513
CR  - Huang, H.-T., Chang, D.-F., & Weng, H.-J. (2019). Fuzzy method for determining the gaps between parents and teachers perceived on implementing of preschools English curriculum policy. ICIC Express Letters, Part B: Applications, 10(12), 1077–1084. https://doi.org/10.24507/icicelb.10.12.1077
CR  - Ioannou-Georgiou, S. (2015). Early language learning in Cyprus: voices from the classroom. In S. Mourão & M. Lourenço (Eds), Early years second language education: International perspectives on theory and practice (pp. 95–108). Routledge.
CR  - İlter, B., & Er, S. (2007). Erken yaşta yabancı dil öğretimi üzerine veli ve öğretmen görüşleri. Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi, 15(1), 21-30. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/kefdergi/issue/49108/626693
CR  - İrem, O. (2019). Yabancı dil öğretimi/öğreniminde yaş etkeni üzerine bir değerlendirme. Dil Dergisi, 170(1), 40-53. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/dilder/issue/43587/528966
CR  - Jacoby, J. W., & Lesaux, N. K. (2019). Supporting dual language learners in Head Start: Teacher beliefs about teaching priorities and strategies to facilitate English language acquisition. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher 
Education, 40(2), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2018.1529006
CR  - Khurramovna, S. S., & Bakhtiyarovna, A. S. (2021). Methodology of teaching English to preschool children. Eurasian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3, 148–150. https://bit.ly/3Q0qlyN
CR  - Kılıç, S. (2015). Kappa test. Journal of Mood Disorders, 5(3), 142-144.
CR  - Kirsch, C., Aleksić, G., Mortini, S., & Andersen, K. (2020). Developing multilingual practices in early childhood education through professional development in Luxembourg. International Multilingual Research Journal, 14(4), 319 – 337. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2020.1730023
CR  - Mahmoud Ghoneim, N. M., & Abdelsalam Elghotmy, H. E. (2015). The effect of a suggested multisensory phonics program on developing kindergarten pre-service teachers’ EFL reading accuracy and phonemic awareness. English Language Teaching, 8(12), 124–143. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n12p124
CR  - Milton, C., du Plessis, S., & van der Heever, H. (2020). English as an additional language: Professional development needs of early childhood practitioners in historically disadvantaged contexts. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 10(1), Article a804. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v10i1.804
CR  - Ng, M. L. (2015). Difficulties with team teaching in Hong Kong kindergartens. ELT Journal, 69(2), 188–197. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccu057
CR  - Landis, J., & Koch, G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159-174.
CR  - Long, M. H. (2017). Problems in second language acquisition. Routledge.
CR  - Petitto, L. A., M. S. Berens, I. Kovelman, M. H. Dubins, L. J. Williams, & M. Shalinsky. (2011). The ‘Perceptual wedge hypothesis’ as the basis for bilingual babies’ phonetic processing advantage: New insights from fNIRS brain 
imaging. Brain Language, 121 (2), 130– 43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2011.05.003
CR  - Ping, Z., Vicente Nicolás, G., & Coyle, Y. (2013). Preschool English education in the Spanish curriculum. Analysis of the Region of Murcia. Porta Linguarum : International Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 20, 117–133. https://doi.org/10.30827/digibug.27178
CR  - Pollard-Durodola, S. D., González, J. E., Simmons, D. C., Taylor, A. B., Davis, M. J., Simmons, L., & Nava-Walichowski, 
M. (2012). An examination of preschool teachers’ shared book reading practices in Spanish: Before and after instructional guidance. Bilingual Research Journal, 35(1), 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2012.667374
CR  - Portiková, Z. (2015). Pre-primary second language education in Slovakia and the role of teacher training programmes. In S. Mourão & M. Lourenço (Eds.), Early years second language education: International perspectives on theory and practice (pp. 177–188). Routledge.
CR  - Posner, J. G. (1995). Analyzing the curriculum (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
CR  - Sandhofer, C., & Uchikoshi, Y. (2013). The relationship between dual language development and development of cognition, mathematics, socialemotional development, and related domains. In California’s Best Practices for Young Dual Language Learners: Research Overview Papers, Child Development Division, California Department of Education (CDE). http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ce/documents/dllresearchpapers.pdf
CR  - Sevi, L. (2010). Öğretmen adaylarının yabancı dil eğitiminin gerekliliğine ilişin görüşleri [Yüksek lisans tezi, Kütahya Dumlupınar Üniversitesi]. Ulusal Tez Merkezi.
CR  - Soto-Boykin, X. T., Larson, A. L., Olszewski, A., Velury, V., & Feldberg, A. (2021). Who is centered? A systematic review of early childhood researchers’ descriptions of children and caregivers from linguistically minoritized communities. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 41(1), 18-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121421991222
CR  - Şad, S.N., & Sarı, M. (2019). English teachers’ competencies in teachin English to young learners (The case of Kütahya province). Inonu University Journal of the Graduate School of Education, 6(12), 144-163. https://doi.org/10.29129/inujgse.567423
CR  - Thoma, N., & Platzgummer, V. (2023). ‘It’sa bit contradictory’: teachers’ stances to (practiced) language policies in German-language ECEC in Italy. International Journal of Multilingualism, 20(4), 1319-1335. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2023.2237061
CR  - Tyler, W. R. (1993). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. The University of Chicago Press.
CR  - Vanpatten, B. & Benati G.A. (2015). Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition (2nd Ed.). Bloomsbury.
CR  - Wang, S., & Hou, Y. (2021). Learning stories as an assessment: A case study exploring its local application in China. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49, 693–710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01092-y
CR  - Yule, G. (2022). The study of language. Cambridge university press.
CR  - Zengin, E., & Ulaş, A. H. (2020). Sınıf öğretmenlerinin yabancı dil öğretiminde karşılaştıkları problemlerin belirlenmesi. Turkish Journal of Educational Studies, 7(1), 27-42. https://doi.org/10.33907/turkjes.581983
UR  - https://doi.org/10.30786/jef.1378253
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/3484448
ER  -