Rethinking the 'ideal native speaker' in early childhood education
Current foreign language education policies advocate plurilingual approaches to learning and teaching languages and call into question the 'ideal native speaker' as the ultimate model. Observations within a teacher training context indicate that this ideal still holds considerable weight a...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| Repositorio: | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:recercat.cat:10256/19413 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10256/19413 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Llenguatge i llengües -- Educació primària Language and languages -- Study and teaching (Primary) Llengua segona -- Adquisició -- Educació primària Second language acquisition -- Study and teaching (Primary) Llengües modernes -- Educació primària Languages, Modern -- Study and teaching (Primary) |
| Sumario: | Current foreign language education policies advocate plurilingual approaches to learning and teaching languages and call into question the 'ideal native speaker' as the ultimate model. Observations within a teacher training context indicate that this ideal still holds considerable weight among pre-service teachers. A study was carried out with students enrolled on the degree programme in Early Childhood Education at a university in Catalonia to explore the extent to which the 'ideal native speaker' model prevails within this community. The study analysed data from different instruments applied within the context of a core module which includes an innovative approach to embedding English as a foreign language in the early years. Findings confirm the prevalence of the model and reveal beliefs and assumptions which not only perpetuate the ideal itself, but also reinforce disempowering and discriminatory attitudes which are incongruent with current policies regarding language education. Changes reported in post-intervention findings highlight the need to develop reflective skills alongside linguistic and didactic competences in Early Childhood EFL Education. One of the main contributions of the study is its identification of deficit views of non-specialist teachers and its call for collaborative practice in which all linguistic abilities have a place |
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