Bilingual pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their intercultural and plurilingual competences

The number of bilingual teacher preparation programs in Spain continues to increase, making it essential for research to address this evolving reality from multiple perspectives. Given that the success or failure of any educational innovation is closely tied to how it is understood and perceived, th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Arnaiz-Castro, Patricia, Espejo, Roberto, Gómez-Parra, M. Elena
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Murcia
Repositorio:DIGITUM. Depósito Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Murcia
OAI Identifier:oai:digitum.um.es:10201/148581
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.47553/rifop.v99i38.3.109773
http://hdl.handle.net/10201/148581
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bilingual teacher preparation programs
Pre-service teachers’ perceptions
Intercultural competence
Plurilingual competence
Programas de formación bilingüe
Percepciones del profesorado en formación
Competencia intercultural
Competencia plurilingüe
CDU::3 - Ciencias sociales::37 - Educación. Enseñanza. Formación. Tiempo libre
Descripción
Sumario:The number of bilingual teacher preparation programs in Spain continues to increase, making it essential for research to address this evolving reality from multiple perspectives. Given that the success or failure of any educational innovation is closely tied to how it is understood and perceived, this study aims to analyse the usefulness of bilingual education from the perspective of one key group of stakeholders: bilingual pre-service teachers. Specifically, participants’ levels of self-perceived intercultural and bilingual competences were measured in relation to four variables: gender, involvement in a bilingual track in primary education, participation in international programs, and language proficiency. The relationship between intercultural competence and plurilingual competence was also examined. Data were collected through a questionnaire designed by the research team of the national project SELF-CITATION. The sample comprised 99 students from four public universities in Spain. Results of the Mann Whitney U tests indicated that participants’ self-perceived levels of both competences seem to be linked with their participation in international programs and their language proficiency. Participation in bilingual programs in primary education proved to have a weak impact. No gender differences were detected. Pearson correlations revealed the positive correlation between the two dimensions examined. This study has gathered overall trends among bilingual pre-service teachers, which can have relevant implications for initial teacher education and language education in general.