Teachers’ roles in early childhood English language pedagogy: beliefs of kindergarten English language teachers

ABSTRACT

The present qualitative study explores the beliefs of Iranian early childhood English teachers regarding their roles in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to young learners at kindergarten and preschool age. The data were collected through classroom observations and interviews with 13 Iranian EFL kindergarten teachers who volunteered to participate in this study. More specifically, after initial introductory interviews with each participant, their classes were observed, and subsequently, verbal recollection interviews were conducted. Depending on the various administrative constraints at different kindergartens, each participant was observed two to four sessions, 36 sessions in total. Three major themes representing beliefs of the participants emerged from thematic analysis of the interview data. The themes included teachers’ beliefs about, first, the constraints affecting early childhood methodologies and pedagogical practices; second, the influence of English language on children’s native language, culture, and, identity; and third, the attempts required for achieving an ideal early childhood EFL instruction. As such, these results may provide potential implications for policy makers and curriculum designers responsible in this field to encourage reforms in kindergartens’ instructional, administrative, and marketing policies.     

Roots and patterns in Hebrew language development: evidence from written morphological analogies

Morphology is one of the organizing principles of the mental lexicon. It is especially important in Hebrew, where word structure expresses a rich array of semantic notions. This study investigated the ability of Hebrew-speaking children to solve written morphological analogies by reading and completing two sets of real and invented root- and pattern-related nouns using a closed set of responses. In the first experiment, 152 gradeschoolers (2nd–6th grade) were administered an analogy task with real words, where they had to read written stimuli and elicit root and pattern components from them. In the second experiment, 148 gradeschoolers were administered a similar reading task with pseudowords. In both experiments, the results clearly indicate an early and robust ability of Hebrew-speaking children to perform morphological analogies using both roots and patterns. Most errors involved the root morpheme rather than the pattern morpheme, but pseudowords elicited more pattern errors. These results are discussed in view of models of morphological processing and morpho-lexical development in Hebrew.     

广府戏曲的传承发展与英译探索

社会发展及新兴文化的冲击使粤调说唱文学日渐衰退。人们对广府戏曲的研究,较多囿于技巧层面,少有对其文学意义和价值等深层次的探讨。粤调说唱文学的传承发展与英译探索,有利于保护传统文化,进行文化交流借鉴。     

Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: the truth about false belief

Research on theory of mind increasingly encompasses apparently contradictory findings. In particular, in initial studies, older preschoolers consistently passed false-belief tasks-a so-called "definitive" test of mental-state understanding-whereas younger children systematically erred. More recent studies, however, have found evidence of false-belief understanding in 3-year-olds or have demonstrated conditions that improve children's performance. A meta-analysis was conducted (N = 178 separate studies) to address the empirical inconsistencies and theoretical controversies. When organized into a systematic set of factors that vary across studies, false-belief results cluster systematically with the exception of only a few outliers. A combined model that included age, country of origin, and four task factors (e.g., whether the task objects were transformed in order to deceive the protagonist or not) yielded a multiple R of .74 and an R2 of .55; thus, the model accounts for 55% of the variance in false-belief performance. Moreover, false-belief performance showed a consistent developmental pattern, even across various countries and various task manipulations: preschoolers went from below-chance performance to above-chance performance. The findings are inconsistent with early competence proposals that claim that developmental changes are due to tasks artifacts, and thus disappear in simpler, revised false-belief tasks; and are, instead, consistent with theoretical accounts that propose that understanding of belief, and, relatedly, understanding of mind, exhibit genuine conceptual change in the preschool years.     

Integrating inquiry science and language development for English language learners

The traditional approach to the education of language minority students separates English language development from content instruction because it is assumed that English language proficiency is a prerequisite for subject matter learning. The authors of this article take the alternate view that the integration of inquiry science and language acquisition enhances learning in both domains. The report describes a conceptual framework for science–language integration and the development of a five‐level rubric to assess teachers' understanding of curricular integration. The science–language integration rubric describes the growth of teacher expertise as a continuum from a view of science and language as discreet unrelated domains to the recognition of the superordinate processes that create a synergistic relationship between inquiry science and language development. Examples from teacher interviews are used to illustrate teacher thinking at each level. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 664–687, 2002     

跨语言学习心理测评——来自中英文阅读动机和阅读水平的证据

在跨语言学习测评研究中,目前尚未有学者探究同一群体的中国学生的中英文学习心理是如何相互影响,并最终影响语言能力。为弥补这一研究空白,本研究调查了中国北京267名初中生中英文阅读动机,并同时测试他们的和中英文阅读能力。在八个维度的阅读动机中,对中文作为母语和英文作为外语的阅读动机进行量化对比,中文阅读动机在自我效能感、好奇心、投入度、消遣娱乐性、社会伙伴态度五个维度上的表现高于英文阅读动机;而在学业成绩、工具性、社会家庭态度三个维度上,两者没有差异。同时,相关分析表明工具性与英文阅读水平密切相关;消遣娱乐性与中文阅读水平密切相关。此外,多元线性回归分析显示,不同维度的阅读动机分别解释中英文阅读水平的差异。这些研究结果验证了阅读动机的跨语言性迁移特征,不同的阅读动机对中英文阅读水平起着不同作用。文章最后对中英文阅读教学提出了指导意见。     

英语教学中跨文化交际能力的培养

通讯技术的迅猛发展和经济的全球化,使得跨文化交际成为当代人们生活中不可或缺的一部分,因此越来越多的研究者开始关注英语学习者的跨文化交际能力。基于对文化与交际、语言与文化之间关系的系统分析,以及对跨文化交际的界定,探究了跨文化交际能力的培养策略。     

The reactivity of think-alouds in writing research: quantitative and qualitative evidence from writing in English as a foreign language

Reading and Writing - The reactivity of think-alouds (TAs) (i.e., their effects on thinking) has remained an inevitable concern whenever their use is considered or evaluated. This paper reports...     

English language teaching and whole school professional development in Tanzania

This paper reports a two-year in-depth qualitative enquiry into English language teaching in a typical primary school in an economically disadvantaged ward of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The research found that modest but significant changes to teachers’ pedagogy, practice and understanding of the teaching of English could be achieved. One of the most important changes was the teachers’ increased understanding of the benefits of engaging learners in a greater range of interaction styles. Another important change was greater understanding of the importance of communicative intent and semantics in the teaching of English. The whole school approach to teacher development, including the research team's sustained engagement with the head teacher of the school, was an important context for the changes to practice.     

The problematic context of mentoring: evidence from an English language teaching department at a Turkish university

‘Mentoring’ has become the central issue of the ‘restructuring programme’ in education faculties in Turkey since 1998. This study aims to explore the participants’ perceptions and experiences about the concepts of ‘mentor’ and ‘mentoring’. A mentor and six English Language Teaching Department (ELT) students, who were in the final year of their training programme, participated in the study. A qualitative case study methodology was employed and data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with faculty students and mentors, semi‐structured journals kept only by the faculty students and debriefing notes kept only by the researcher. The findings demonstrate important issues about the nature, functions, benefits, and problems of the mentoring experienced by the faculty students at the particular department such as the need for developing selection criteria and training programmes for mentors and organising regular meetings and seminars about the partnership programme for mutual understanding and sharing opinions. Drawing on the data, recommendations and implications are suggested.     

Integrating philosophy into English curriculum: The development of thinking and language competence

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) program in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students’ critical and creative thinking and enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking, and English language proficiency in ESL students.     

英语语境与交际能力的培养

语言通过生活环境建构自己,生活环境又为语言提供了表达功能的场所,因此“以言行事”与“生活环境”密不可分。外语教育面临的最大问题也正是这种言语活动所依赖的语境的缺失。在外语具有“可学性”(learnability)前提下,必须创建用语言来执行交际功能的言行环境。语境选择要与学生生活相统一,在“情”与“境”的合力下,让学生的想象力、直觉、创造精神和交际能力得到良好的发展。     

The future of theory-of-mind research: understanding motivational states, the role of language, and real-world consequences

Suggestions are made for future investigation of theory-of-mind development. There needs to be (1) more focus on the development of understanding of desire and intention; (2) research on the role of language in theory-of-mind development that integrates representational-development and social-interaction views; and (3) investigation of the real-world consequences of children's developing understanding of belief, desire, and intention.     

Facilitating professional development for teachers of English language learners

The study explores the process of facilitation in professional development for educators. The study relies on discourse analysis of interaction among K-12 teachers and administrators in a Midwestern U.S. state during a semester-long professional development program especially designed for educators working with English language learners (ELLs). The study examines the facilitation practices employed by the lead facilitator of the professional development program from three analytical lenses: context as participation, context as ideology, and content. The paper provides an empirical illustration of how recommendations in the literature about professional development for educators of ELLs can be put in practice.     

浅析广东“洋泾浜”英语对粤方言地区学生英语学习的影响

“洋泾浜”英语最初诞生于广州,继而影响了以粤语为主的广东文化,直到今天,依然有“洋泾浜”英语继续生成。在这种社会文化背景下,粤方言地区的学生在英语学习中也受到了“洋泾浜”英语的影响,本文从正反两个方面分析了这种影响,并提出了相应的教育对策。     

从社会文化视角看源于汉语粤方言的英语词

汉语中的粤方言传入英语的数量多、形式独特,是汉语借词的重要组成部分.这种借词的大量出现有其历史原因和社会原因.本文从社会文化角度分析荚语中汉语粤方言借词的历史及文化成因,揭示汉语粤方言对英语语言和文化产生的重要的影响,透视影响这一进程的社会文化因素.     

Parent involvement in early childhood: a comparison of English language learners and English first language families

This study evaluated parents’ communication, involvement and knowledge of their children’s abilities in reading and mathematics among parents who spoke English as a first language (EL1) and those who were English language learners (ELL). Forty‐two kindergarten‐aged children, their parents and their teachers participated in the study. Results indicated that EL1 parents communicated more frequently with the teacher than ELL parents. However, there were no language group differences in parents’ involvement in their children’s education (as rated by the teacher). For both groups of parents (EL1 and ELL), parents’ ratings of their children’s abilities in reading did not predict children’s reading scores. However, parents’ ratings of their children’s abilities in mathematics did predict their children’s mathematics scores. Further analyses indicated that this relationship was not mediated by parents’ communication or involvement. It is concluded that parents’ accurate knowledge of their children’s abilities in mathematics may be the result of their involvement at home and particularly for ELL parents, their greater understanding of and emphasis on mathematics learning.     

Parent–child reading in English as a second language: Effects on language and literacy development of Chinese kindergarteners

This study investigated the effects of dialogic parent–child reading in English on 51 Hong Kong kindergarteners learning English as a second language. Children were pre‐tested on nonverbal IQ, reading interest and receptive vocabulary, word reading and phonological awareness in both Chinese and English. They were then assigned randomly to one of three conditions involving different levels of parent–child interactions: dialogic reading (DR), typical reading (TR) or control. Though inter‐group comparisons showed nonsignificant interaction effects across time among the three groups, intra‐group gains across the 12‐week intervention suggested that parent–child reading could enhance English word reading skills, while dialogic reading could promote phonological awareness in both Chinese and English. These results highlight the potential benefits of English parent–child reading and dialogic reading on children learning English as a second language, and the possibility of linguistic transfer from parent–child reading in English as a second language to Chinese as a first language.     

基于语言磨蚀理论的大学英语通识教育研究

本文分析了影响语言磨蚀的因素,提出了如何通过大学英语通识教育改革避免或减少语言磨蚀的途径与策略。通识教育与专业教育相对,是指带有普遍意义的人生教育,目的是使学生得到全面的发展。大学英语通识教育研究,实现了从教学模式改革到教学内容改革的根本转变,有利于提高大学英语教学质量。