Pre-school Teachers’ Beliefs towards Their Abilities of Teaching English to Pre-schoolers in Pahang, Malaysia

Authors

  • Aisyah Khaleeda Rosli Msc Language Education, Centre for Modern Languages, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia
  • Noor Raha Mohd Radzuan Centre for Modern Languages, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31004/aulad.v3i2.66

Keywords:

Teachers’ beliefs, English proficiency, Pre-schools, Self-efficacy, ELT

Abstract

In the education sector, teachers serve as the most important role model in improving learners' English language competency. Due to this, the beliefs of the pre-school teachers initiate a critical indicator in deciding if, given the circumstances, pre-school children can receive adequate English inputs and exposure at their age. In this study, 60 private pre-school teachers were given a set of questionnaires consisting of 14 items to investigate their beliefs towards their abilities of teaching English to pre-schoolers in Pahang, Malaysia. The findings of this study revealed a much more positive view of teachers’ beliefs in pre-school English teachings. This can become a stimulus for the growth of English proficiency among Malaysian children and consequently improve the standard of English in Malaysia in the future.

References

Abas, A. (2019, May). MUET allows Education Ministry to gauge English teachers’ proficiency. New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/05/487439/muet-allows-education-ministry-gauge-english-teachers-proficiency

Abdullah, M. K., & Laji, H. (2016). Analisis Perbandingan Efikasi Pengajaran dalam Kalangan Guru Bahasa Melayu Tahun Satu. Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Melayu.

Azil, F. (2020, January). Dasar PPSMI akan dikembalikan dalam sistem pendidikan negara - PM. Astro Awani. http://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/dasar-ppsmi-akan-dikembalikan-dalam-sistem-pendidikan-negara-pm-229496

Bandura, A. (1988). Self-Regulation of Motivation and Action Through Goal Systems. In Cognitive Perspectives on Emotion and Motivation. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2792-6_2

Bandura, A. (1997). Teacher Self Efficacy Scale. Unpublished.

Bandura, A. (2013). Self-efficacy and social cognitive theories. PennState.

Bedore, L. M., Peña, E. D., Griffin, Z. M., & Hixon, J. G. (2016). Effects of Age of English Exposure, Current Input/Output, and grade on bilingual language performance. Journal of Child Language. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000915000811

Bhuvaneswari, G. (2016). Teacher cognition. International Journal of Economic Research.

Blummer, B., & Kenton, J. M. (2014). Methodology: the data analysis. In Improving Student Information Search. https://doi.org/10.1533/9781780634623.125

Borg, S. (1998). Teachers’ Pedagogical Systems and Grammar Teaching: A Qualitative Study. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587900

Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444803001903

Borg, S. (2018). Teachers’ Beliefs and Classroom Practices. In P. Garrett & J. M. Cots (Eds.), The ROutledge Handbook of Language Awareness. Routledge.

Byers-Heinlein, K., & Lew-Williams, C. (2013). Bilingualism in the Early Years: What the Science Says. LEARNing Landscapes. https://doi.org/10.36510/learnland.v7i1.632

Cabus, S. J., & De Witte, K. (2015). Does unauthorized school absenteeism accelerates the dropout decision? — Evidence from a Bayesian duration model. Applied Economics Letters. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2014.937031

Carvalho, M., Sivanandam, H., Rahim, R., & Tan, T. (2019, July). Dr M: Put aside nationalist pride, allow English in teaching of science, maths. The Star Online. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/07/16/dr-m-put-aside-nationalist-pride-allow-english-in-teaching-of-science-maths/

Chen, J. Q., McCray, J., Adams, M., & Leow, C. (2014). A Survey Study of Early Childhood Teachers’ Beliefs and Confidence about Teaching Early Math. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-0619-0

Chesnut, S. R., & Burley, H. (2015). Self-efficacy as a predictor of commitment to the teaching profession: A meta-analysis. In Educational Research Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.02.001

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research and Design Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. In Thousand Oaks California.

Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555

Farrell, T. S. C., & Bennis, K. (2013). Teachers believes in classroom practices. RELC Journal.

Farrell, T. S. C., & Ives, J. (2015). Exploring teacher beliefs and classroom practices through reflective practice: A case study. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541722

Foong, L., Veloo, P. K., Dhamotharan, M., & Loh, C. (2018). Private sector early child care and education in Malaysia: Workforce readiness for further education. Kajian Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.21315/km2018.36.1.6

Ford, I. R. (2013). Teacher self-efficacy and its influence on student motivation. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 73(12-A(E)). http://ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2013-99111-268&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Friedmann, N., & Rusou, D. (2015). Critical period for first language: The crucial role of language input during the first year of life. In Current Opinion in Neurobiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2015.06.003

Greimel, H. (2015, July). Honda to make English official language by 2020. Automotive News. https://www.autonews.com/article/20150703/OEM/150709942/honda-to-make-english-official-language-by-2020

Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.04.007

Hu, B. Y., Fan, X., Yang, Y., & Neitzel, J. (2017). Chinese pre-school teachers’ knowledge and practice of teacher-child interactions: The mediating role of teachers’ beliefs about children. Teaching and Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.12.014

Hu, R. (2016). The Age Factor in Second Language Learning. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6(11), 2164. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0611.13

Ismail, F. L. M. @, Ismail, A., Aziz, M. A. A., Aziz, S. A., Sharom, N. Q., & Ramlan, S. R. (2018). Service Quality of Public Pre-school Education in Malaysia: Perceptions of Parents. Jurnal Sains Insani.

Kaur, N., Haron, N. I., & Mohd Radzi, N. A. (2019). Malaysian University English Test: A Comic Approach to a Serious Subject Matter. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Future of ASEAN (ICoFA) 2017 - Volume 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8730-1_28

Klassen, R. M., Durksen, T. L., & Tze, V. M. C. (2020). Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs. In Teacher Motivation. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203119273-7

Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308

Lomas, L., & Clarke, D. (2016). Changes in Teachers’ Knowledge and Beliefs about Mathematics and Mathematics Teaching: A Case Study. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, 391—398. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED572325.pdf

Majzub, R. M. (2013). Critical Issues in Pre-school Education in Malaysia. Recent Advances in Educational Technologies.

Malaysia Education Blueprint, M. (2013). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025. Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.007

Malaysian Examinations Council. (2016). Malaysian University English Test (MUET). Batu Caves: Percetakan Warni, 1. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&btnG=Search&q=intitle:Malaysian+university+english+test#4

Melitz, J. (2016). English as a global language. In The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-32505-1

Mohamed, A. H. H., & Al-Qaryouti, I. A. (2016). The association between pre-school teachers’ beliefs and practices about developmentally appropriate practices. Early Child Development and Care, 186(12), 1972—1982. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1146260

Mohd. Hamzah, M. I., & Attan, N. (2007). Tahap Kesediaan Guru Sains Dalam Penggunaan Teknologi Maklumat Berasaskan Komputer Dalam Proses Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran. Jurnal Teknologi. https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v46.307

Nafissi, Z., & Shafiee, Z. (2019). Teachers ’ roles in early childhood English language pedagogy : beliefs of kindergarten English language teachers. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 0(0), 1—19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2019.1647479

Nair, S. M., Hanafi, Z., & Yassin, S. M. (2017). Do Pre-school Teachers’ Education Affect their Classroom Practices and Career Paths? International Journal of Education and Practice. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.61.2017.56.88.94

Othman, J. (2019). Reform in Assessment: Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices. Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 6, 501. https://doi.org/10.22190/jtesap1803501o

Othman, J., & Kiely, R. (2016). Preservice teachers’ beliefs and practices in teaching english to young learners. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v6i1.2661

Peter, H. W., & Chomsky, N. (1968). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. The Modern Language Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/3722650

Rashid, R. A. B., Rahman, S. B. A., & Yunus, K. (2017). Reforms in the policy of English language teaching in Malaysia. Policy Futures in Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210316679069

Reber, R., & Greifeneder, R. (2017). Processing Fluency in Education: How Metacognitive Feelings Shape Learning, Belief Formation, and Affect. Educational Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2016.1258173

Rethinasamy, S., & Chuah, K. M. (2011). The Malaysian university English test (MUET) and its use for placement purposes: A predictive validity study. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2146007

Sani, R. (2017, December 15). All-round concerted efforts needed. New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/2017/03/117441/all-round-concerted-efforts-needed

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2016). Research Methods for Business Students (7th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.

Schlueter, A. L. (2019). Learning English for Young Learners “The Aspect of Intercultural Dimension, Diversity Arts and Media in the Early Foreign Language Education.” 276(Icoelt 2018), 229—233. https://doi.org/10.2991/icoelt-18.2019.33

Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Research methods for business : a skill-building approach / Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie. In Nucleic Acids Research.

Shafa. (2015). Teori Pemerolehan Bahasa dan Implikasinya dalam Pembelajaran. Jurusan Tarbiyah STAIN. https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v12i2.61

Ting, S. H., Marzuki, E., Chuah, K. M., Misieng, J., & Jerome, C. (2017). Employers’ views on the importance of english proficiency and communication skill for employability in Malaysia. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i2.8132

United Nations Development Programme. (2019). Human Development Report 2019: Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century: Briefing note for countries on the 2019 Human Development Report. http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/NZL.pdf

Vosniadou, S. (2019). Teachers’ beliefs and knowledge. In Problem Solving for Teaching and Learning: A Festschrift for Emeritus Professor Mike Lawson. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429400902-8

Xu, L. (2012). The role of teachers’ beliefs in the language teaching-learning process. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.2.7.1397-1402

Yang, J. (2019). Understanding Chinese language teachers’ beliefs about themselves and their students in an English context. System. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.10.014

Zee, M., & Koomen, H. M. Y. (2016). Teacher Self-Efficacy and Its Effects on Classroom Processes, Student Academic Adjustment, and Teacher Well-Being: A Synthesis of 40 Years of Research. Review of Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315626801

Downloads

Published

2020-07-24

How to Cite

Rosli, A. K., & Radzuan, N. R. M. (2020). Pre-school Teachers’ Beliefs towards Their Abilities of Teaching English to Pre-schoolers in Pahang, Malaysia. Aulad: Journal on Early Childhood, 3(2), 103–114. https://doi.org/10.31004/aulad.v3i2.66

Issue

Section

Research Articles

Citation Check