Rethinking the ‘ideal native speaker’ teacher in early childhood education

Abstract

Current foreign language education policies advocate plurilingual approaches to learning and teaching languages and call into question the 'ideal native speaker' as the ultimate model. Observations within a teacher training context indicate that this ideal still holds considerable weight among pre-service teachers. A study was carried out with students enrolled on the degree programme in Early Childhood Education at a university in Catalonia to explore the extent to which the 'ideal native speaker' model prevails within this community. The study analysed data from different instruments applied within the context of a core module which includes an innovative approach to embedding English as a foreign language in the early years. Findings confirm the prevalence of the model and reveal beliefs and assumptions which not only perpetuate the ideal itself, but also reinforce disempowering and discriminatory attitudes which are incongruent with current policies regarding language education. Changes reported in post-intervention findings highlight the need to develop reflective skills alongside linguistic and didactic competences in Early Childhood EFL Education. One of the main contributions of the study is its identification of deficit views of non-specialist teachers and its call for collaborative practice in which all linguistic abilities have a place.

The Notion of the Native Speaker Put to the Test: Recent Research Advances

“…By labeling teachers as separate "native speakers" and "non-native speakers, " it falsely positions them as culturally superior and inferior with separate roles and attributes" (Holliday, 2018: 1). Waddington (2021) provides evidence that the "ideal native speaker" model prevails in pre-service teacher assumptions and beliefs and that the latter not only serve to perpetuate the ideal itself, but also reinforce disempowering and discriminatory attitudes among the profession, which are both outdated and incongruent with current multilingualism inspired policies in early childhood education.…”

Studies on pre-primary learners of foreign languages, their teachers, and parents: A critical overview of publications between 2000 and 2022

“…They developed new beliefs about teaching preschool children and their beliefs became more concrete and concerned age-specific criteria related to designing activities and materials and assessments. Waddington (2021) analyzed the impact of a FL teacher training program embedded as an innovation in the early childhood degree program at a Spanish university. Based on analysis of data collected by questionnaires and focus group discussions administered before and after the course, she found that participants' initial preferences for FL native speakers and FL specialists as ideal FL teachers to preschoolers changed by the end of the program.…”

“It’s Exciting and Motivating”: Pre-Service Teachers in Teaching English to Young Learners in Kurikulum Merdeka Implementation

“…In order to effectively instruct young learners, one must have a comprehensive understanding of how young learners development influences linguistic acquisition (Nguyen, 2019;Vieira et al, 2022). There is a wide range of linguistic competence, cognitive ability, and learning style among the young students in TEYL courses (Waddington, 2022). It might be difficult for aspiring pre-service teachers to successfully differentiate education to fit the requirements of the learners.…”