Summary

Language teacher education is widely identified as one of the most important areas that needs addressing in order to improve early language instruction, yet research into teacher education for early language teachers remains relatively sparse. This volume responds to this gap by compiling studies with diverse methodological tenets from a wide range of geographical and educational contexts around the world. The volume aims to enhance understanding of early language teacher education as well as to address the need to prepare early language teachers and assist them in their professional development. The chapters focus on the complexity of teacher learning, innovations in mentoring and teacher supervision, strategies in programme development and perceptions, and knowledge and assessment in early language learning teacher education. The volume offers comprehensive coverage of the field by addressing various aspects of teacher education in different languages. The contributions highlight examples of research into current practice in the professional enhancement of early language learning teachers, but with an emphasis on the implications for practitioners

Reviews

“This volume is a very welcome addition to research in a much-neglected area: early language teacher education. As well as taking a truly international perspective, it includes chapters on bilingual education, TESOL, Modern Foreign Languages – areas of early language teacher education which are rarely found together, despite the synergies between them. Presenting thoughtful and innovative discussions of a range of key topics in the field, it is set to become essential reading for anyone involved in early language teacher education.”

— Fiona Copland, Professor, University of Stirling, UK

“Early language learning and the policies associated with it have been introduced around the world, but there is still little known about teacher education in global contexts. This book addresses this need and brings together a group of major scholars who have done a brilliant job in each chapter. Highly recommended resource!”

— Luciana C. de Oliveira, Professor, University of Miami, USA

“In capturing the issues surrounding early language learning the book highlights one universal problem, that is individual countries around the world have implemented policies for the implementation of learning an additional language in primary schools. While this is a welcome addition to curriculums it has been a top-down approach without fully understanding the demands that education systems face in implementing such policies and without equipping them with resources such as training specialist language teachers. The research here offers constructive and thoughtful initiatives on the many complexities surrounding this issue including implementing effective practices in teacher training… This book gives a new optimism for the field as the research gathered presents relevant insights and fresh perspectives into language teaching methodologies. There is a strong and much needed theoretical contribution that is evident in each of the studies. It advocates for better resourced and professionally equipped teacher education programs that put the learning of languages for young people as a priority…” Read More

— Dr. Jonnell Uptin, University of Sydney, Australia

Review appearing in 2021 in TESOL in Context, Volume 30, pp. 115-117. doi:10.21153/tesol2021vol30no1art1586

“La conoscenza di diverse situazioni in cui prevale un approccio orientate alla continua messa in discussion delle modalità di insegnamento al fine di creare contesti educative migliori rappresenta indubbiamente un support per gli insegnanti di lingue. Oltre alla formazione in glottodidattica, la riflessione sul proprio contesto, operato, risultati ottenuti e ambiente di apprendimento dovrebbe essere al centro di un processo educativo in costante miglioramento. La lettura delle esperienze riportate nel volume può essere d’esempio e fungere da spunto per docent e formatori. Le ricerche presentate sono nella quasi totalità degli studi di caso e coinvolgono un bassissimo numerodi soggetti: ciò toglie spessore scientifico alle conclusion tratte, ma può essere da spunto per riprendere I concetti, sicuramente interessanti, da indagare. Inoltre, l’apprendimento precoce di una lingua straniera o seconda è un fenomeno recente e in crescita, la lettura del volume, perciò, può rivelarsi interessante per focalizzare sugli aspetti fondamentali nell’insegnamento a giovanissimi apprendenti…” Read More

— Dr. Alberta Novello, University of Padua, Italy

Review appearing in 2020 in EuroAmerican Journal ofAppliedLinguisticsandLanguages (Special Issue), Volume 7(1), pp.152‐156. doi:10.21283/2376905X.11.182

“I am particularly impressed by the introductory chapters as they make a convincing case for the research–practice tandem and set the scene for the chapters that follow. These robust introductory chapters highlight the impact of early language learning policies on teacher education, which have resulted in a shortage of adequately trained teachers with appropriate proficiency levels across the globe. The book is coherent, contains sound pedagogical and theoreticalreflections on a number of issues in primary English, and starts to break down barriers between disciplines, such as foreign language teaching and bilingualism. This is an important step forward considering thenumber of multilingual children in classrooms around the world whosemultilingual voices are usually silenced… One of the strengths of the publication is its focus on research-based teacher education and the implications for practitioners. The different chapters provide examples of reflective, enquiring, questioning, and critical approaches to developing language teachers’ identity. This goes beyond the mere replication of teaching strategies and techniques, moving the agenda towards ensuring autonomy and highlighting experiential, collaborative, and autonomous learning. An additional strength is the grounding of teacher education in contextual, autobiographical, and sociopolitical realities, which characterizes the complexity and multidimensionality of educating language teachers in a globalized world, with chapters from Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America (Africa is conspicuously absent). Another interesting aspect of this book is the spotlight on methodological considerations in teacher education research, which include mixed methods, narrative enquiry, case studies, and quasi experimental, longitudinal, and multivocal ethnography, and paves the way for a reconceptualization of teacher education research and evidence based practice. Most chapters begin with a reference to the globalized world of the 21st century, thus placing teacher education firmly in the present and serving the needs of future generations of teachers…” Read More

— Professor Nayr Ibrahim, Nord University, Sweden

Review appearing in 2020 in ELT Journal, Volume 74 (2), pp.  202–225. doi:10.1093/elt/ccaa019

“This book is a very useful resource for university educators of future teachers and also education policy makers because of the clear overview provided about the varying ways in which English and other Modern languages are taught. This is important because it is unrealistic to expect that languages can be taught the same way universally when there are stark differences in political and economic priorities and consequently the resources available to fund the education people may want. The unexpected appearance of SARS-CoV-2 has catapulted many students and educators around the world into online learning. It will be interesting to see if a by-product of this abrupt shift will unexpectedly translate into the increased learning opportunities for teachers that this volume recommends…” Read More

— Alexandra Burke, Japan

Review appearing in 2021, JALT Journal, Volume 42(2), pp. 176-179.

“The range of mainly qualitative research approaches described in the book will be helpful to the whole TEYL community: TEYL student teachers, TEYL teachers, educators and researchers (and of course these groups overlap) wanting to engage in research to improve TEYL teacher education. The methods include case study, ethnography and mixed methods, with analysis spanning discourse analysis to grounded theory. An additional benefit of this range is that it provides a rich set of research models to guide and inspire future researchers wanting to investigate and enhance their own contexts… In conclusion, the book is a valuable contribution to the field of pre and in service TEYL development. It will be of interest and assistance to many. A strength of the book is that it presents research on language teaching in several bilingual contexts, although these are considerably outweighed by English teaching contexts…” Read More

— Professor Sharon Harvey, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Review appearing in 2022 in Language Teaching for Young Learners, Volume 3(1), pp. 174-179. doi:10.1075/ltyl.00021.har