The Ideal English Practices for Chinese Kindergartner in Teachers Perspectives

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.