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ECEC Teachers? Perspectives on EAL Support for Minority Language Children in Northern Ireland
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Abstract:
Master in Education Studies (Early Childhood Education) ; Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings across Northern Ireland (NI) are becoming increasingly diverse. To provide English as an additional language (EAL) learners with the best possible education and care, ECEC teachers should possess knowledge of good EAL practice and intercultural learning principles. Recent research demonstrated that minority language children benefit from high-quality ECEC programmes. Yet, previous studies conducted in different types of schools across Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) have shown a considerable knowledge gap amongst teachers regarding pedagogical EAL strategies and good practice. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the way in which eleven ECEC teachers comprehend and address the language learning needs of minority language children in their respective early years? settings in NI. This research project involved questions concerning EAL knowledge and the related practice of participants as well as their consideration for and incorporation of children?s minority language and culture into the learning environment. Eleven semi-structured interviews were held with ECEC teachers from different early years settings across NI. The findings of this study suggest that ECEC teachers are not provided with enough EAL training, both in their initial and subsequent training. Basic EAL strategies, such as the use of visual cues and repetition, could be named by participants. Yet, a lack of in-depth knowledge of good EAL practice and SLA became apparent. Participants? practice was mostly based on their experiences in working with minority language children and not theoretical knowledge. Above all, most of the participants seemed unaware of the importance of language learning support for minority language children. In this sense, the individual language learning needs of minority language children were rarely addressed. Furthermore, the cultural and linguistic elements of EAL learners background were rarely considered by participants and seldom incorporated into class activities or discussions. Rather, the children?s minority language was only perceived as a communication tool that helps create a relationship between the ECEC teachers and children. Most participants pointed out that language assessment was especially difficult for EAL children, as there are no EAL assessment tools. Overall, evidence from this small-scale study suggests that EAL and intercultural training for ECEC teachers in NI should be mandatory and updated regularly through CPD courses, whereby special attention must also be paid to the importance of children?s minority languages and cultural backgrounds and their incorporation into the learning environment.
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Keyword:
EAL practice; Early childhood care; Early childhood education; Minority language children; Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES; Teachers? perspectives
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URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2262/91975
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| 42 |
O neofalantismo no estudantado da Facultade de Filoloxía da UDC
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| 44 |
Writing Orkney’s Future: Minority Language and Speculative Poetics
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| 45 |
Teacher Identity: Community College Composition Teachers' Investment in Language Minority Students
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| 50 |
FEL XXI : communities in control: learning tools and strategies for multilingual endangered language communities : proceedings of the 21st FEL Conference, 19-21 October 2017
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BLLDB
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UB Frankfurt Linguistik
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| 54 |
Francophonies -relations -appropriations. Une approche historicisée et expérientielle des « langues »
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In: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02105994 ; Linguistique. Université de Cergy-Pontoise, 2018 (2018)
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| 56 |
Maintaining Farsi as a Heritage Language in the United States: Exploring Persian Parents’ Attitudes, Efforts, and Challenges
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| 57 |
Re-imagining Sleswig: language and identity in the German-Danish borderlands - understanding the regional, national and transnational dimensions of minority identity
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| 58 |
Linguicide or Linguistic Suicide?: A Case Study of Indigenous Minority Languages in France
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| 59 |
La racine des mots : héritage, langue et identité chez les apprenants du gaélique irlandais au Canada
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| 60 |
Teaching and learning via a minority language: A case study in the Spanish education system
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