Teaching English to young children as an innovative practice: Kuwaiti public kindergarten teachers’ beliefs

Globalization has driven the popularity of teaching English as a lingua franca. In Kuwait, expanding the teaching and learning of English to include public kindergarten schools would be an innovative practice, which would bring great expected learning outcomes. First, it would help children achieve...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wafaa Salem Al-Yaseen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021-01-01
Series:Cogent Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2021.1930492
Description
Summary:Globalization has driven the popularity of teaching English as a lingua franca. In Kuwait, expanding the teaching and learning of English to include public kindergarten schools would be an innovative practice, which would bring great expected learning outcomes. First, it would help children achieve more native-like pronunciation. Second, it would consolidate the notion that English is the language of study at later stages of education. To achieve these high expectations, it is important to explore the beliefs of Kuwaiti kindergarten teachers about teaching English. For the purpose of the study, 90 female Kuwaiti teachers whose first language is Arabic were randomly selected from three educational districts to respond to a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. SPSS was used to calculate percentages, means and standard deviations. ANOVA and t-test were applied to identify significant differences with reference to the study variables (affiliation, experience, and educational district). The results indicated that kindergarten teachers believed strongly in the importance of teaching English to children at kindergarten stage. They reaffirmed the importance of children learning English as a global language as a means to empowerment and improved international communication. However, teachers were concerned that learning a foreign language at a young age may have a negative impact on their mother-tongue Arabic, especially their writing skills. The results identified significant differences with reference to participant affiliation and years of experience. Finally, the study concluded with some recommendations.
ISSN:2331-186X