The Beliefs of Second Language Acquisition in Teacher Candidates

The present study investigated if an elementary education program at a Midwestern university addressed teacher candidates' misconceptions of second language acquisition. Participants were 59 teacher candidates who enrolled at the first semester and 27 teacher candidates who enrolled at the last...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Chang, Sau Hou
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published 2015
Subjects
Beliefs
Elementary School Teachers
English (Second Language)
Experiential Learning
Likert Scales
Misconceptions
Preservice Teachers
Program Effectiveness
Second Language Learning
Student Surveys
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Summary:The present study investigated if an elementary education program at a Midwestern university addressed teacher candidates' misconceptions of second language acquisition. Participants were 59 teacher candidates who enrolled at the first semester and 27 teacher candidates who enrolled at the last semester of the elementary education program. The Beliefs of Second Language Acquisition Survey was developed by the researcher based on studies on the myths and misconceptions about second language acquisition. Results showed that teacher candidates at the end of the program had a significant higher percentage of correct responses in ten beliefs of second language acquisition. The incorporation of second language acquisition in elementary education courses and field experiences had impact on clearing teacher candidates' misconception of second language acquisition, and helped preparing them to work with English Language Learners in mainstream classrooms.