Own-language use in teaching English to preschool children

Abstract

This study investigated own-language use in teaching English as a foreign language to preschool children. Interviews were conducted with 20 teachers involved in preschool English instruction in a large city in Poland. Using thematic analysis, the study identified three major themes in relation to teachers' own-language use: the children's well-being, classroom management, and teaching the language. The same themes were identified in the case of the children's parents, who were sometimes present in the classroom. The teachers' descriptions of classroom interaction also revealed four functions that learners sometimes used their own language for: learning the language, managing the behaviour of others, and expressing physical needs and emotions. The main conclusions stemming from the teachers' accounts are that the learners' own language plays an important role in English instruction for preschool children and that decisions about its use are motivated by both linguistic and nonlinguistic factors.