Disrupting preconceptions: Challenges to preservice teachers’ beliefs about ESL children
Abstract
Students enter pre-service teacher education programmes with certain preconceptions about what the world is like, what classrooms are like and how students acquire literacy. In our increasingly multicultural society, teachers in pre-service teacher education courses are often not representative of the wider population. The present paper reports on a study in which reflective writing by first-year students was used to illustrate the sorts of questions teacher trainees are asking about classrooms, and the extent to which their preconceptions as to their learners' needs have been disrupted by their readings about diversity. Themes to be explored are dialects and varieties, importance of pupils' talk, cultural diversity and creative thinking. A critical discourse analysis also revealed students' beliefs and developing understandings about second language learners. It will be argued in this paper that a small amount of information, though provided with the best of intentions, may inadvertently reinforce previously held negative opinions about second language learners, and that care needs to be exercised in how information about ESL pupils is presented.
Reference
de Courcey, M. (2007). Disrupting preconceptions: Challenges to preservice teacher's beliefs about ESL children. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 28(3), 188-203. http://dx.doi.org/10.2167/jmmd454.0
Journal
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
120
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- University coursework assignment (e.g. writing/project done for a grade)
Data Analysis Tools
- Critical Discourse Analysis
- Thematic analysis
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
- Inside (studying their own practices)
Research Questions
"This paper will explore the understandings of ESL children and their
needs revealed in the writing of pre-service teacher education students who have received all their education in a mainstream, largely monolingual context. What are their conceptions of the ESL student? Have they realised that such students may be found in mainstream classrooms? Have they thought about the needs of ESL children up to this point? How prepared do they feel to meet these needs? What changes need to be made to the teacher education programme in order to better prepare them for a diverse classroom?" (p. 190)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes