Pre-service Teacher Beliefs About Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of survey data examining English-speaking preservice teachers' (PSTs) attitudes toward and beliefs about foreign language teaching and learning. Part of a larger international study aimed at answering the research question: ‘What are the national, social, economic, and institutional “socialsuggestive norms” (Miele, 1982) that encourage (or discourage) foreign language learning?’, this survey was administered to PSTs enrolled in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba. The data presented here raise interesting questions about PSTs' attitudes with regard to their futures in multicultural, multilingual classrooms. Findings suggest that this group of PSTs believe that knowing English is sufficient for themselves and their students, and therefore that foreign language learning is not considered important. While English-speaking PSTs respect bilinguals, they do not seem to respect language study.

Keywords:

• foreign language
• social context
• adult SLA