English in Inclusive Multilingual Preschools. Kirsten Birsak de Jersey

be particularly relevant to be able to identify the possible reasons why teachers might consider teaching English as a burden and consequently be reluctant to become involved in the first place (→ question 4a): their needs would have to be addressed and be taken seriously and contextual support would have to be provided to overcome contextual constraints which could impede the implementation of the teacher education project. Question 4 therefore explicitly asked for preschool teachers’ competences they might have developed in this area: Had they attended the course on how to teach foreign languages during their studies and what were their motives to participate or not to participate (→ questions 4b, 4b-1). Question 4 also aimed to find out whether the teachers could imagine introducing English themselves in their groups (→ question 4c) and if they opted for no, what were the reasons for their reluctance to do so. Predictable reasons for their reluctance that were included in the questionnaire comprised their lack of sufficient communicative English language competence (→ question 4c-1); their general readiness and disposition to teach English to their groups if appropriate support was provided (→ question 4c-2) (this question also aimed at identifying those preschool teachers who would not become involved under any circumstances even if support were provided for them) and the contextual conditions at their respective preschool that they thought would support or hinder them from accommodating English in the daily life of preschool (→ question 4c-3). The questionnaire provided the option to name any other reasons why they could not imagine introducing English in their preschool (→ question 4c-4). A final comment for teachers to write whatever they felt was important to them was added at the end (not numbered in questionnaire).

      Before presenting results related to teachers’ attitudes towards introducing English in their preschool by relating them to their personal and professional qualifications to teach English, it is interesting to look at the ratio of teachers who would see it as a benefit respectively who would feel it was a burden and those who could imagine teaching it respectively who would be reluctant to do so. Over half of the preschool teachers believed that they would benefit from teaching English in preschool (57.5%) (→ statistical data 15). Those who would consider it to be a burden were in the minority. However, when asked specifically about teaching English themselves, the majority of the preschool teachers could not imagine teaching it (65.1%) (→ statistical data 16). The discrepancy that they would find it a benefit but could not imagine teaching it, together with the already substantial percentage of preschool teachers that felt it would be a burden to introduce English to their groups in the first place (42.5%) (→ statistical data 15) confirm that the potential constraints that preschool teachers see from their perspectives need to be analysed and be taken seriously if English were to be introduced on a large-scale in preschools.

      Figure 16:

      Statistical data 15 Introducing English in preschool from the teachers’ perspective: a benefit or a burden?

      Figure 17:

      Statistical data 16: Teachers offering English in their preschools themselves

      The following chapters describe the reasons why preschool teachers were in favour or against introducing English in their preschool.

      3.4.1 Preschool teachers’ education in teaching English: offers and needs

      To what extent did the preschool teachers who participated in the survey have the opportunity to take part in a course intended to prepare them to teach English in preschool and did they actually enrol for it? At the time of the research one optional course for preschool teachers’ development in the field of language teaching was offered during their preschool teacher education at the BAfEP school in Salzburg titled ‘Englisch im Kindergarten: Impulse zum interkulturellen Lernen’. It familiarized preschool teachers with basic knowledge on the methodology of teaching English to children. Available data resulted from the following two questions:

      Was the course ‘English in Preschool’ offered during your preservice teacher education? (Wurde der Kurs ‘Englisch im Kindergarten: Impulse zum interkulturellen Lernen’ im Rahmen Ihrer Ausbildung angeboten?) (question 4b).

      Did you take part? (Haben Sie daran teilgenommen?) (question 4b-1).

      The majority of the teachers had not been offered a course on teaching English to children during their preservice education (76 %) (→ statistical data 17) but when it was offered, the vast majority had taken the opportunity to participate (92.9%) (→ statistical data 18).

      Figure 18:

      Statistical data 17: Course on ‘English in preschool’ offered to teachers during their preservice teacher education

      Figure 19:

      Statistical data 18: Teachers taking part in the English course when offered

      For preschool teachers who had the chance to participate, almost all of them were motivated to take part because they felt that English is an international language, which their children would have to be exposed to. They considered English to be a general life skill they would need to be familiar with from an early age:

      “Ich finde Englisch sehr wichtig, eine Sprache, die überall gesprochen wird” (qu. 4b-1: yes).

      “Reiselust, Eigeneinteresse, Fremdsprachen allgemein helfen im Leben” (qu.4b-1: yes).

      The high attendance indicates teachers’ general interest to be educated in teaching English, but as the course was seldom offered, the majority of preschool teachers do not have any teaching skills in this area. Throughout the questionnaire, the preschool teachers repeatedly confirmed that their lack of teaching skills was an issue to them. Preschool teachers demonstrated a generally positive attitude towards learning to teach English through their comments which they linked with ideas of how they could be educated to be able to do it. Teachers suggested that it would be helpful to have a native speaker available to support them to become more secure in their speaking skills, to have a qualified person coming to the preschool to teach English and to provide them with games and materials and they suggested for the preschool to provide some extra time for them to be able to develop the competence to teach English:

      “Infos für die Anwendung im Kindergarten wären hilfreich, Aufbau, ebenso eigene Sicherheit im Sprechen (z. B. durch native speaker), üben können” (final comment).

      “Würde gerne an Fortbildungen teilnehmen” (final comment).

      “Ich fände gut, wenn zusätzlich jemand kommen würde, und wir eine Schulung bekämen. Gut wären Spiele oder Materialien, die uns dabei helfen können” (qu. 4c-4).

      “Zusätzliche Belastung und fehlende Kompetenz, auch Zeitproblem. Deshalb NUR mit Unterstützung!” (qu. 4c-4).

      “Wir müssten erst eingeschult werden” (qu. 4c-4).

      “Die Pädagoginnen könnten das Englischlehren übernehmen, mit entsprechender Ausbildung, entsprechender Englischkenntnisse” (qu. 4c-4).

      “Ich habe mich mit dem Thema Sprache in verschiedenen Formen auseinandergesetzt und (…) einige Kurse dazu besucht. Ich glaube, dass viele Kollegen zu wenig „Handzeug“ dafür haben – eine der effektivsten und erfolgreichsten Methoden ist meiner Meinung nach die KIKUS Methode1. KIKUS- Sprachlehrer / Trainer müssten aber zusätzlich in die Gruppe kommen – die Methode erfordert sehr viel Vor- und Nacharbeit – dies lässt sich nicht im normalen Dienst erledigen. Persönlich arbeite ich aber auszugsweise und sehe die positiven Erfolge, in meinem Fall KIKUS-Deutsch” (final comment).

      3.4.2 Preschool teachers’ communicative English language competence

      Most preschool teachers in Austria are educated