Student teachers’ perceptions on the usefulness of their bilingual education

Authors

  • Patricia Arnaiz-Castro Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  • M. Elena Gómez-Parra Universidad de Córdoba
  • Roberto Espejo Universidad de Córdoba

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47553/rifop.v99i38.3.109773

Abstract

    The number of bilingual teacher preparation programs in Spain continues to increase, making it essential for research to address this evolving reality from multiple perspectives. Given that the success or failure of any educational innovation is closely tied to how it is understood and perceived, this study aims to analyse the usefulness of bilingual education from the perspective of one key group of stakeholders: bilingual pre-service teachers. Specifically, participants’ levels of self-perceived intercultural and bilingual competences were measured in relation to four variables:  gender, involvement in a bilingual track in primary education, participation in international programs, and language proficiency. The relationship between intercultural competence and plurilingual competence was also examined. Data were collected through a questionnaire designed by the research team of the national project SELF-CITATION. The sample comprised 99 students from four public universities in Spain. Results of the Mann Whitney U tests indicated that participants’ self-perceived levels of both competences seem to be linked with their participation in international programs and their language proficiency. Participation in bilingual programs in primary education proved to have a weak impact. No gender differences were detected. Pearson correlations revealed the positive correlation between the two dimensions examined. This study has gathered overall trends among bilingual pre-service teachers, which can have relevant implications for initial teacher education and language education in general.

Author Biographies

Patricia Arnaiz-Castro, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Dr. Patricia Arnaiz Castro, holding a PhD in English Didactics since 2001, is an Associate Professor specializing in EFL and Bilingual Education. With a rich background in these fields, she has contributed significantly through specialized research, countless publications, participation in international conferences as keynote speaker, and national and international projects. Professor Arnaiz Castro’s work has appeared in highly ranked international journals indexed in SCOPUS and JCR  as well as in high quality book chapters. Dr. Arnaiz Castro was the coordinator in the University of las Palmas de Gran Canaria of the ERASMUS + Project 'PlayingbeyondCLIL' (VG-IN-BE-18-36-047300) (018-2021). She has participated in competitive funded-projects including BESOC (ref. EDU2017-84800R), and FoBE (ref. PID2021-127031OB-I00) and also in the project funded by the British Council in 2017-2018 on the evaluation of bilingual programmes in Andalusia.

 

M. Elena Gómez-Parra, Universidad de Córdoba

Mª Elena Gómez Parra, full professor at the university of Córdoba, is an interdisciplinary researcher working mainly within Intercultural Education, Bilingual Education, and English as a Foreign Language. . Her key research areas include: interculture, bilingual education, early second language acquisition.

Dr. Gómez Parra is the director of the Research Group HUM-1006 (Research in Bilingual and Intercultural Education); she is a full member of ATINER, the President of IBIE (Ibero-American Bilingual and Intercultural Education) Network since its foundation, the Director of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) entitled Play, Education, Toys and Languages (PETaL), the IP of the Research Project ‘LinguApp: LinguApp: asegurando el acceso al aprendizaje universal e inclusivo de segundas lenguas’ (Ref. no. PRY208/17, funded by Centro de Estudios Andaluces, July 2017-July 2019), the IP of the Research Spanish National Project entitled ‘Facing Bilinguals: Study of Bilingual Education Programmes' Results through Social Data Analysis’ (2018-2021), the Director of the prestigious UIMP (Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo) training courses for Spanish Primary Education Teachers entitled: ‘Innovation within CLIL: Mindfulness, Design Thinking and ICT’ (Cuenca, 10th-14th July 2017), as well as for Secondary Bilingual Teachers: ‘Innovation in Bilingual Secondary Education’ (Cuenca, 9th-13th July 2018). She is also a reviewer for a number of international journals on education, second languages and culture.

Roberto Espejo, Universidad de Córdoba

He is an Associate professor at the University of Córdoba and has worked for 30 years in various engineering degrees. He has  also participated in numerous doctoral and master’s degree courses. He holds a degree in Mathematical Sciences with a specialization in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Computer Science (computational statistics). He has been the academic coordinator of the undergraduate programs in computer engineering for several years and has participated in various curriculum creation processes at the Polytechnic School of the University of Córdoba. He has publications in high-impact journals in the field of applied statistics and has coordinated numerous projects on educational innovation. He is also a reviewer for several scientific education journals.

 

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Published

2024-12-30

How to Cite

Arnaiz-Castro, P., Gómez-Parra, M. E., & Espejo, R. (2024). Student teachers’ perceptions on the usefulness of their bilingual education. Revista Interuniversitaria De Formación Del Profesorado. Continuación De La Antigua Revista De Escuelas Normales, 99(38.3). https://doi.org/10.47553/rifop.v99i38.3.109773

Issue

Vol. 99 No. 38.3 (2024): Foreign language teaching. New challenges and focus for teacher education

Section

Monográfico

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