English Teaches' Beliefs about Bilingualism Benefits

Öz

In the context of Türkiye, the beliefs of English teachers’ about bilingualism were not known. To solve this problem, the current paper explored the bilingualism benefits beliefs of English teachers at a private chain school offering Turkish-English bilingual preschool education in Türkiye. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 preschool and primary level, non-native English teachers. The content analysis of the data resulted in 8 themes. In conclusion, the teachers believed that bilingualism had benefits in cognitive, social, cultural, emotional, academic, economic, linguistic and identity-development domains. Furthermore, regarding the differences noticed at primary level between the children who attended bilingual preschools and those who did not, it was found that there were 7 main benefits differences in favor of the children who attended bilingual preschools. They were cognitive, social, identity, linguistic, emotional, psychological and cultural benefits differences.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• bilingualism benefits
• English Teachers' beliefs
• early childhood education
• bilingual preschool

İngilizce Öğretmenlerinin Çift Dillilik Hakkındaki İnançları

Öz

Türkiye bağlamında İngilizce öğretmenlerinin çift dillilik hakkındaki inançları bilinmiyordu. Bu problemi çözmek adına bu araştırma Türkiye'de Türkçe-İngilizce çift dilli okul öncesi eğitimi sunan özel bir zincir okuldaki İngilizce öğretmenlerinin çift dilliliğin faydalarına ilişkin inançlarını inceledi. Ana dili İngilizce olmayan 12 okul öncesi ve ilkokul İngilizce öğretmeni ile yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler gerçekleştirildi. Verilerin içerik analizi sonucunda 8 tema elde edildi. Sonuç olarak, öğretmenler çift dilliliğin bilişsel, sosyal, kültürel, duygusal, akademik, ekonomik, dilsel ve kimlik gelişimi alanlarında faydaları olduğuna inanmaktaydı. Ayrıca, çift dilli okul öncesi eğitime katılan ve katılmayan çocuklar arasında ilkokul seviyesinde fark edilen farklılıklara ilişkin olarak, çift dilli okul öncesi eğitime katılan çocukların lehine 7 temel fayda farkı olduğu tespit edildi. Bunlar; bilişsel, sosyal, kimlik, dilsel, duygusal, psikolojik ve kültürel fayda farklılıklarıydı.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• çift dillilik faydaları
• ingilizce öğretmenlerinin inançları
• erken çocukluk eğitimi
• çift dilli okul öncesi eğitimi

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