Teacher Competences for Teaching English as a Foreign Language in the First Educational Cycle of Primary Education

Autor/inn/en	Dagarin-Fojkar, Mateja; Grahut, Mirjam; Skubic, Darija
Titel	Teacher Competences for Teaching English as a Foreign Language in the First Educational Cycle of Primary Education
Quelle	In: European Journal of Educational Research, 11 (2022) 1, S.423-433 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Dagarin-Fojkar, Mateja) ORCID (Skubic, Darija)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2165-8714
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Second Language Instruction; Teacher Competencies; Language Teachers; Elementary School Teachers; Primary Education; Teacher Attitudes; Linguistic Competence; Cultural Awareness; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Multilingualism; Slovenia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Lehrkunst; Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; Elementary school; Teacher; Teachers; Grundschule; Volksschule; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Primarbereich; Lehrerverhalten; Sprachkompetenz; Cultural identity; Kulturelle Identität; Teaching theory; Theory of teaching; Unterrichtstheorie; Mehrsprachigkeit; Multilingualismus; Slowenien
Abstract	Foreign language teaching in the Slovenian educational context begins in the first grade (age 6). Many studies report a lack of qualified teachers at this stage of learning around the world and numerous authors emphasise the misconception that basic linguistic and didactic knowledge of teachers is sufficient for teaching children. All three Slovenian public universities are aware of this problem and offer pre-service and in-service programmes for (student) teachers who want to specialise in teaching English to young learners. In the present article, we focus on the subject-specific teacher competences for teaching English in the first three years of primary education; namely, linguistic, subject didactic and intercultural competences. We explore teachers' self-assessment of these competences and their perception of certain elements pertaining to them. The study seeks to answer the following research questions: (1) What subject-specific competences do teachers consider essential for teaching English in the first cycle of primary education? (2) To what extent do teachers believe they have developed certain subject-specific competences? (3) What are teachers' attitudes toward certain subject-specific competences that the teacher needs for teaching English in the first cycle of primary education? The results of the quantitative survey, in which 100 teachers participated, show that teachers perceive their subject didactic competence to be the most developed and their intercultural competence to be the least developed. Moreover, they consider that a basic level of English is not sufficient for teaching English in the first grades. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Eurasian Society of Educational Research. 7321 Parkway Drive South, Hanover, MD 21076. e-mail: publisher@eu-jer.com; Web site: https://www.eu-jer.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01