TEACHER CANDIDATES’ BELIEFS ABOUT CROSSLINGUISTIC PEDAGOGY, CODE-SWITCHING, AND CODE-MIXING: A SNAPSHOT FROM UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG

Abstract

The last decades have seen the active embracement of classroom multilingualism in educational settings. The relevance of this study is justified by the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in Western societies, the high demand for teachers who understand the value of multilingualism, have deep knowledge of multilingual language practices, are able and willing to provide an appropriate learning environment for language learners. The main objective of the study is to investigate the pre-service language teachers’ beliefs about crosslinguistic pedagogy, code-switching, and codemixing as the leading examples of this pedagogy in educational settings. Anonline questionnaire was shared among teacher candidates (n=20) enrolled in teacher education programs at the University of Hamburg. The respondents were asked to answer the questions concerning their background and to mark on a Likert scale whether they agreed with the statements provided to them or would find the implementation of certain methodology useful. The findings suggest positive attitudes towards multilingualism and a high level of awareness regarding the importance of previously acquired languages for subsequent language teaching and learning. However, some discrepancies between knowledge, beliefs, and practice are indicated. The results allow us to conclude that target-language-only use in language classes is still a highly desirable goal for pre-service language teachers. Some possible implications for curriculum development arising from the study are discussed.