TY - JOUR
T1 - Language ideologies of Arizona preschool teachers implementing dual language teaching for the first time
T2 - pro-multilingual beliefs, practical concerns
AU - Bernstein, Katie A.
AU - Kilinc, Sultan
AU - Troxel Deeg, Megan
AU - Marley, Scott C.
AU - Farrand, Kathleen M.
AU - Kelley, Michael F.
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the support of Helios Education Foundation [grant number 9659174]. We acknowledge the support of Helios Education Foundation Grant No. 9659174. The ideas presented in this paper are those of the authors and no endorsement from the funding agency should be inferred. We also thank Shannon Fitzsimmons-Doolan for the use of her survey. Thank you, too, to the early childhood educators who participated in this study and to our partner districts.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - This mixed-methods study examines the language ideologies of 28 preschool educators in their first month transitioning from English-only to dual language education (DLE). Using the language ideology survey developed by [Fitzsimmons-Doolan, S. (2011). “Language ideology dimensions of politically active Arizona voters: an exploratory study.” Language Awareness 20 (4): 295–314; Fitzsimmons-Doolan, S. (2014). “Language ideologies of Arizona voters, language managers, and teachers.” Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 13 (1): 34–52], we analyzed the preschool teachers’ language ideologies, as well as the relationships between the ideologies and demographic and experiential variables. We found that teachers generally held pro-multilingual ideologies, but that particular ideologies correlated with different teacher experiences. For instance, while teachers’ level of education and having studied a language other than English were positive correlates of pro-multilingual beliefs, years of teaching overall was instead positively associated with viewing English as a tool and years at the current placement was positively related to viewing multiple languages as a problem. Neither general teaching experience nor experience having a home language other than English was a significant predictor of pro-multilingual beliefs. Qualitative analysis of transcripts from teacher focus groups reflected teachers’ pro-multilingual beliefs, but also showed teachers’ concerns with DLE implementation. We found, however, that these concerns were practical–balancing district priorities; managing new divisions of labor in the classroom–rather than ideological. Our findings highlight the theoretical and methodological importance of viewing teachers’ experiences, ideologies, and classroom language policies as connected.
AB - This mixed-methods study examines the language ideologies of 28 preschool educators in their first month transitioning from English-only to dual language education (DLE). Using the language ideology survey developed by [Fitzsimmons-Doolan, S. (2011). “Language ideology dimensions of politically active Arizona voters: an exploratory study.” Language Awareness 20 (4): 295–314; Fitzsimmons-Doolan, S. (2014). “Language ideologies of Arizona voters, language managers, and teachers.” Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 13 (1): 34–52], we analyzed the preschool teachers’ language ideologies, as well as the relationships between the ideologies and demographic and experiential variables. We found that teachers generally held pro-multilingual ideologies, but that particular ideologies correlated with different teacher experiences. For instance, while teachers’ level of education and having studied a language other than English were positive correlates of pro-multilingual beliefs, years of teaching overall was instead positively associated with viewing English as a tool and years at the current placement was positively related to viewing multiple languages as a problem. Neither general teaching experience nor experience having a home language other than English was a significant predictor of pro-multilingual beliefs. Qualitative analysis of transcripts from teacher focus groups reflected teachers’ pro-multilingual beliefs, but also showed teachers’ concerns with DLE implementation. We found, however, that these concerns were practical–balancing district priorities; managing new divisions of labor in the classroom–rather than ideological. Our findings highlight the theoretical and methodological importance of viewing teachers’ experiences, ideologies, and classroom language policies as connected.
KW - Arizona
KW - Language ideologies
KW - dual language education
KW - early childhood education
KW - language policy and planning
KW - teacher experience
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U2 - 10.1080/13670050.2018.1476456
DO - 10.1080/13670050.2018.1476456
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047333739
SN - 1367-0050
VL - 24
SP - 457
EP - 480
JO - International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
JF - International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
IS - 4
ER -