Vol. 2 No. Special Issue (2025): Teaching Young Language Learners
Articles

Training Pre-School and Early School Pedagogy Students to Teach English: A Study on Belief Modification

Małgorzata Szulc-Kurpaska
The Witelon State University of Applied Sciences, Legnica
Bio
Sabina A. Nowak
University of the National Education Commission, Krakow
Bio
Werona Król-Gierat
University of the National Education Commission, Krakow

Published 2025-01-28

Keywords

  • teacher beliefs and perceptions, verbal reports, anecdotal records, reflection, mindsets

How to Cite

Szulc-Kurpaska, M., Nowak, S. A., & Król-Gierat, W. (2025). Training Pre-School and Early School Pedagogy Students to Teach English: A Study on Belief Modification. Journal of Language and Culture in Education, 2(Special Issue), 144-160. https://doi.org/10.5281/524sxq98

Abstract

In the academic year 2020-2021 pre-school and early-school pedagogy M.A. students entered a three-semester course of Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) which was incorporated for the first time into a regular ministerial programme in the Pedagogy Department in Legnica, Poland. Similarly, pre-school and early-school pedagogy students in Kraków took courses on teaching English to children as part of their study programme. These experiences offered an opportunity for the trainers to design specialised courses, implement them and conduct research on the impact they had on the beliefs of M.A. students in relation to language learning and teaching. Additionally, the beliefs of pre-service teacher trainees were revealed on education of young learners as well as the extent to which the course meets the challenges faced by the Pedagogy students in teaching a foreign language. The study exploited Lightbown and Spada’s framework (2011), verbal reports and anecdotal records, which provided an insight into the process of educating M.A. students of Pedagogy in teaching a foreign language to children aged 3-10 and informed the trainers on what the needs of this group of teacher trainees were in developing their teaching skills not only in foreign language instruction. The initial findings from the research indicate the significance of modifying the beliefs of M.A. students in the realm of language education and revisiting their preconceptions of a pre-primary and lower primary teacher.

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