Supportive primary teacher beliefs towards multilingualism through teacher training and professional practice

Pohlmann-Rother, Sanna; Lange, Sarah; Zapfe, Laura; Then, Daniel

doi:10.1080/09500782.2021.2001494

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…A first stage in laying the foundations for competent teachers is pre-service teacher education [49]. Teacher education plays an important role by preparing pre-service teachers through initial formal learning opportunities about teaching emergent bilinguals and leveraging children's full linguistic repertoires as a resource in education [50,51]. Upon completion of teacher education, teachers are expected to possess foundational knowledge, skills and beliefs that align with theory, enabling them to build their teaching practice [52].…”

Section: Interactive Book Reading As An Approach For Effective Vocabu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In shaping their beliefs on multilingualism, research shows that teachers draw on learning opportunities from pre-and in-service training, as well as from their own experiences in teaching emergent bilinguals [50]. Since most pre-service teachers in the present study had little experience in teaching emergent bilinguals (e.g., only occasionally during an internship), they mainly relied on the insights and expertise acquired through their pre-service teacher education programs (n = 22).…”

Section: Levering Emergent Bilinguals' Full Linguistic Repertoiresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Building Vocabulary Bridges: Exploring Pre-Service Primary School Teachers’ Dispositions on L2 Vocabulary Instruction for Emergent Bilinguals through Interactive Book Reading

Decraene,

Vanparys,

Montero Perez

et al. 2023

Education Sciences

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A strong vocabulary is crucial for language acquisition and can profoundly influence academic and societal success. Interactive book reading (IBR) offers an effective approach for vocabulary instruction as it provides a dynamic and engaging word-learning context. However, as children progress from preschool to primary grades, the emphasis on IBR declines, despite the persistent need for comprehensive literacy education, particularly for emergent bilinguals. This study aims to uncover the reasons underlying the diminishing use of IBR and focuses on the dispositions (i.e., knowledge and beliefs) of pre-service teachers regarding L2 vocabulary instruction during IBR with emergent bilinguals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 pre-service teachers in Flanders. Thematic analysis revealed a foundational knowledge base for vocabulary instruction during IBR, with most beliefs aligning with scientific evidence. Nevertheless, some beliefs contradicted research findings, particularly concerning the deliberate use of IBR to achieve specific learning objectives, harnessing students’ home languages and fully realizing IBR’s potential for optimal vocabulary acquisition. Furthermore, preconditions at the class, school, educational policy and parental levels emerged as crucial factors for effectively implementing vocabulary instruction during IBR. These findings serve as pivotal starting points for further refining pre-service teacher education and developing in-service professional development in Flanders.

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Section: Interactive Book Reading As An Approach For Effective Vocabu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Levering Emergent Bilinguals' Full Linguistic Repertoiresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Vocabulary Bridges: Exploring Pre-Service Primary School Teachers’ Dispositions on L2 Vocabulary Instruction for Emergent Bilinguals through Interactive Book Reading

Decraene,

Vanparys,

Montero Perez

et al. 2023

Education Sciences

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“…Fluency in other languages [8, 38, 49] and socio-economic background of the teachers [50] modified their attitudes toward multilingual learners as well. Recent research of Alisaari et al [44], Portolés and Martí [51], and Pohlmann-Rother et al [52] showed that training teachers on concepts of multilingualism and language awareness had a positive effect on the attitudes of teachers. Both ethnicity and cultural background are highly related concepts to multilingualism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes of Teachers toward Multilingualism, Heritage Language Maintenance, and Second Language Learning at School

Daelman,

Van Lierde,

Bettens

et al. 2023

Folia Phoniatr Logop

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Introduction: Providing an adapted language input in a multicultural classroom is often challenging to educators. Teachers are frequently the parents’ first contacts for language counseling and educational support, and therefore, they may influence the language exposure not only in the classroom but at home as well. This study aimed to investigate the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral attitudes of teachers toward multilingualism in Flanders. The effects of contextual teacher- and school-related properties on the attitudes of teachers were also considered. Methods: An online survey questioning the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral attitudes of teachers was developed and distributed to all schools in Flanders. 710 preschool, primary, and secondary teachers completed the questionnaire. Results: The results showed rather positive attitudes toward heritage language maintenance and multilingualism. However, there are still some misconceptions about multilingual language learning strategies. Teachers are interested in extra training, as they find it hard to use the languages of their pupils as a resource in their teaching practice. Discussion: Teachers mostly consider multilingualism an added value. Supplementary training and extra advice given by speech-language therapists could be helpful to inform teachers about the importance of their students’ proficiency in the heritage language and could give teachers insight into the principles of second language acquisition.

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“…Although there is a wide body of research predominantly on in-service primary teachers' attitudes towards and knowledge and skills for multilingualism in education (e.g., Arocena-Egaña et al, 2015;Mitits, 2018;Pohlmann-Rother et al, 2021;Portolés & Martí, 2020), there are fewer studies on pre-service primary teachers' views (e.g., Schroedler & Fischer, 2020) and (self-perceived) knowledge and skills. The question thus also arises of what pre-service primary teachers learn during training.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Accept All Pupils as they are. Diversity!” – Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Views, Experiences, Knowledge, and Skills of Multilingualism in Education

Robinson-Jones

Duarte

Meij

2022

Sustainable Multilingualism

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Summary Schools across Europe are experiencing a growing number of multilingual pupils; however, teachers claim to be generally underprepared for dealing with this ever-increasing linguistic and cultural diversity. Initial teacher education often pays insufficient attention to multilingualism, thus there is a call for research on what pre-service teachers learn about the topic during training. Against this background, this small-scale exploratory study sets out to explore pre-service primary teachers’ (a) views of multilingualism in education in general, (b) experiences of multilingualism in education as trainee teachers, and (c) self-perceived knowledge and skills acquired and developed during training, in the context of the Netherlands. Based on 195 survey responses, descriptive statistical analyses indicate that the sampled pre-service primary teachers have slightly positive views of multilingualism in education, specifically regarding their opinions on the role of multilingualism in education, focusing on school and home languages, and their tolerance of multilingualism in the classroom and at school. A qualitative content analysis reveals that several pre-service primary teachers have had general experiences of teaching pupils with migrant backgrounds, such as in transition classes (Dutch: schakelklassen), and of teaching pupils who communicate with each other only in their home languages. Challenges in teaching multilingual pupils are also reported, such as the implications of being unable to understand pupils’ home languages. Regarding their self-perceived knowledge and skills, the content analysis shows that some pre-service primary teachers in this study are aware of how to encourage collaboration between multilingual pupils to involve their languages in their learning, and have knowledge of language comparison and awareness approaches that can be implemented in multilingual classrooms. A concerning finding, however, is that according to pre-service primary teachers’ self-reported communication skills for multilingual pupils, there is a tendency to use simplified language, which may have a negative impact on pupils’ language development. These findings highlight the need for further research that employs a mixed-methods longitudinal approach to gain insights into the depth of knowledge and skills acquired during training and how views of multilingualism in education influence classroom practices. This study further reveals shortcomings of primary teacher education in the Netherlands regarding the topic of multilingualism, which are followed up by preliminary recommendations for improving training programmes; for instance, training institutions should aim to collaborate with more multilingual schools where pre-service teachers can gain first-hand practical experience.

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Supportive primary teacher beliefs towards multilingualism through teacher training and professional practice

Cited by 8 publications

References 37 publications

Building Vocabulary Bridges: Exploring Pre-Service Primary School Teachers’ Dispositions on L2 Vocabulary Instruction for Emergent Bilinguals through Interactive Book Reading

Building Vocabulary Bridges: Exploring Pre-Service Primary School Teachers’ Dispositions on L2 Vocabulary Instruction for Emergent Bilinguals through Interactive Book Reading

Attitudes of Teachers toward Multilingualism, Heritage Language Maintenance, and Second Language Learning at School

“Accept All Pupils as they are. Diversity!” – Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Views, Experiences, Knowledge, and Skills of Multilingualism in Education

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