Inhaltszusammenfassung

Multisensory and holistic learning are well-established good-practice principles in early foreign language learning, widely publicised in guidelines for teachers. Consequently, student teachers are encouraged to create a multisensory and holistic learning environment during internships at school. However, what happens when regular face-to-face teaching is disrupted and adapted to rules of social distancing over a prolonged time, as observed during the COVID-19 pandemic? In this talk, I i...Multisensory and holistic learning are well-established good-practice principles in early foreign language learning, widely publicised in guidelines for teachers. Consequently, student teachers are encouraged to create a multisensory and holistic learning environment during internships at school. However, what happens when regular face-to-face teaching is disrupted and adapted to rules of social distancing over a prolonged time, as observed during the COVID-19 pandemic? In this talk, I identify some of the challenges for primary EFL based on observations that student teachers have shared after their experience of teaching English to young learners aged between 5 and 11. As part of their teaching-based master thesis, student teachers taught multiple EFL sessions over a period of 4 to 5 weeks. The various learning contexts included emergency teaching to children of key workers at school as well as afternoon clubs and pre-school programmes. Using thematic analysis techniques, student teachers’ written reports as well as transcripts of semi- structured interviews with them were analysed in order to establish in how far COVID-19 regulations impacted on the EFL learning context and which reactions student teachers observed in their young learners. Findings indicate that very young learners’ exposure to the foreign language was limited – mainly caused by the narrow range of activities and types of interaction that were permitted. Opportunities for multisensory and holistic learning were restricted, which is expected to influence young learners’ progress in English. Suggestions are made as to how teaching can be adapted to outbalance this lack of learning experience» weiterlesen» einklappen

Autoren

Klassifikation

DFG Fachgebiet:
Sprachwissenschaften

DDC Sachgruppe:
Englisch