The absolute necessity for a working model to support pre-service teachers of a non-English speaking background

Abstract

With universities seeking to increase their enrolment of international students, and the increasingly diverse domestic market, it is not surprising that researchers’ interest has turned to the impact of a diverse university population. The focus of this paper is a model that has been implemented to enable higher levels of achievement on the professional experience or practicum component of a teacher preparation programme at The University of Queensland, Australia. The participants were students from backgrounds that were non-English speaking. The programme has been provided since the academic year beginning January 2004 and has sparked interest in transferring the model to other areas of the university. While the study was conducted in Australia, the issues it raises, and the model developed, appear to be applicable to any programme on offer in any university with culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Keywords:

• pre-service teachers
• non-English speaking background
• practicum