The Ideal English Practices for Chinese Kindergartner in Teachers’ Perspectives

Research Article
Open access

The Ideal English Practices for Chinese Kindergartner in Teachers’ Perspectives

Min Tang 1* , Xiaoyue Zhang 2 , Ruihan Weng 3 , Yiyang Hu 4 , Wanbo Yang 5
  • 1 SWJTU-LEEDS Joint School, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan province, 611756, China    
  • 2 Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W 120th St., New York, United States, 10027    
  • 3 Faculty of Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2R3, Canada    
  • 4 Collge of Art and Science, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, 76706, United States    
  • 5 Business college, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, 999078, China    
  • *corresponding author tinatang@swjtu.edu.can
LNEP Vol.6
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-37-9
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-38-6

Abstract

Recently, there is an extensive body of literature investigating instructional practices for preschool-level English-Language-Learners (ELLs) in China. However, not many of them took into consideration early childhood teachers’ perspectives on the English-teaching practices that are widely implemented in the country, as well as their visions of “ideal” English-teaching practices that may or may not be already implemented in real classrooms. This qualitative study aims to understand Chinese kindergarten teachers’ opinions about the widely used pedagogical practices for ELLs, their ideas about what “ideal” English-teaching practices should be like, and their suggestions for filling the ideal-actual gap. Thirty teachers working at three Shanghai bilingual kindergartens will be surveyed and interviewed. The study is expected to yield the following findings: 1) Teachers prefer solo-teaching than co-teaching for a more efficient lesson planning process; 2) Teachers believe that ideal English-learning activities are ongoing, consistent, and routinized; 3) Teachers render ideal English-teaching practices to be authentic and immersive. The study results have important implications for curriculum designers, kindergarten English teachers and organizations that provide trainings for pre-and-in-service early childhood educators.

Keywords:

English-Language-Learners (ELLs), Chinese kindergarteners, English globalization, teachers’ perspectives, ideal-actual gap

Tang,M.;Zhang,X.;Weng,R.;Hu,Y.;Yang,W. (2023). The Ideal English Practices for Chinese Kindergartner in Teachers’ Perspectives. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,6,22-26.
Export citation

References

[1]. Yu, Z., & Ruan, J. (2012). Early childhood English education in China. In J. Ruan & C. B. Leung (Eds.), Perspectives on teaching and learning English literacy in China, pp. 51-65. Dordrecht: Springer.

[2]. Wu, Y. (2001). English language teaching in China: Trends and Challenges. TESOL Quarterly, 35(1), 191-194.

[3]. Téllez, K. & Waxman, H. (in press). A meta-synthesis of qualitative research on effective teaching practices for English language learners. In J. M. Norris & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

[4]. Stipek, D. (2004). Teaching practices in kindergarten and first grade: Different strokes for different folks. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19(4), 548-568.

[5]. Ellis, R. (2008). Learner beliefs and language learning. Asian EFL Journal, 10(4), 7-25.

[6]. Borg, S. (2015). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London: Bloomsbury. Ghazi-Saidi, L., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2017). Second language word learning through repetition and imitation: Functional networks as a function of learning phase and language distance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11(463). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00463

[7]. Xue, Y., & Meisels, S. J. (2004). Early literacy instruction and learning in kindergarten: Evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study—kindergarten class of 1998–1999. American Educational Research Journal, 41(1), 191–229. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312041001191

[8]. Noom-ura, S. (2013). English-teaching problems in Thailand and Thai teachers’ professional development needs. English Language Teaching, 6(11). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n11p139

Cite this article

Tang,M.;Zhang,X.;Weng,R.;Hu,Y.;Yang,W. (2023). The Ideal English Practices for Chinese Kindergartner in Teachers’ Perspectives. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,6,22-26.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Disclaimer/Publisher's Note

The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 5

ISBN：978-1-915371-37-9(Print) / 978-1-915371-38-6(Online)
Editor：Muhammad Idrees, Matilde Lafuente-Lechuga
Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/
Conference date: 18 December 2022
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.6
ISSN：2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open access policy for details).

References

[1]. Yu, Z., & Ruan, J. (2012). Early childhood English education in China. In J. Ruan & C. B. Leung (Eds.), Perspectives on teaching and learning English literacy in China, pp. 51-65. Dordrecht: Springer.

[2]. Wu, Y. (2001). English language teaching in China: Trends and Challenges. TESOL Quarterly, 35(1), 191-194.

[3]. Téllez, K. & Waxman, H. (in press). A meta-synthesis of qualitative research on effective teaching practices for English language learners. In J. M. Norris & L. Ortega (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.

[4]. Stipek, D. (2004). Teaching practices in kindergarten and first grade: Different strokes for different folks. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19(4), 548-568.

[5]. Ellis, R. (2008). Learner beliefs and language learning. Asian EFL Journal, 10(4), 7-25.

[6]. Borg, S. (2015). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. London: Bloomsbury. Ghazi-Saidi, L., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2017). Second language word learning through repetition and imitation: Functional networks as a function of learning phase and language distance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11(463). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00463

[7]. Xue, Y., & Meisels, S. J. (2004). Early literacy instruction and learning in kindergarten: Evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study—kindergarten class of 1998–1999. American Educational Research Journal, 41(1), 191–229. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312041001191

[8]. Noom-ura, S. (2013). English-teaching problems in Thailand and Thai teachers’ professional development needs. English Language Teaching, 6(11). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n11p139

For authors
Guide for authors Policies for authors Aims and scope Subscription Open access policy
For editors
Policies for editors Editorial board
For reviewers
Policies for reviewers Privacy policy

Cookies are used by this site.
Copyright © 2024 EWA Publishing, its licensors, and contributors. All rights reserved, including text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.