TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS: SOME CHALLENGES FACED BY PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

Year 2016, Volume: 5 , 323 - 327, 01.09.2016

Zeynep Camlibel-acar

Abstract

Teaching
and learning a foreign language at a young age is becoming more and more common
in the world, which creates a great demand for specialized language teachers,
since teaching to young learners requires special skill, competence and
motivation. Each country and institution is taking precautions in terms of
training teachers who will be able to efficiently serve young learners. As part
of their training in faculties of education, all pre-service teachers of
English in Turkey are provided with one, sometimes two courses on Teaching
English to Young Learners, yet do not always have the opportunity to observe
real young learner classrooms until their final year or graduation. The general
aim of this study was to explore the extent to which pre-service EFL teachers
in their third year were influenced by observations in young learner
classrooms. The following research questions were asked: (1) to what extent is
pre-service teachers’ willingness to teach English to young learners influenced
by their experiences in schools? and (2) how is their perceived readiness and
competence shaped by this experience? Data was collected from 110 junior level
students enrolled in the ELT Department of a state university in Turkey.
Open-ended questionnaire items administered both at the beginning and at the
end of the semester, and reflective essays were the primary sources of data.
The quantitative data was analyzed by applying descriptive statistics while the
qualitative data was analyzed by using a coding procedure, in order to discover
patterns and establish themes. Findings reflect the pre-service teachers’
perceived strengths and weaknesses in relation to teaching English to young
learners, and how they were affected by the course that they took and the young
learner classes that they participated in. Implications and recommendations for
teacher-education programs as well as further research is shared.

Keywords

ELT, young learners, teacher education

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