ELT TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS

The recent changes in the ELT primary curriculum in Turkey as a result of the 4+4+4 education system have raised many issues concerning teacher development and led to discussions regarding teacher qualifications for teaching English at the primary schools. In the European Union primary school language teacher qualifications are identified by the Goethe Institute in the Nuremberg Recommendations in Early Language Learning. Considering Turkey’s attempts to enter the EU, the European standards for teacher preparation and qualifications stand as criteria for Turkey to improve the teacher development process and helping prospective teachers gain the required competencies to teach young learners. From this perspective the current study aims at investigating prospective teachers self-conceptions about primary school language teacher qualifications. Quantitative and qualitative data for the study was collected from 100 fourth year prospective teachers at a large state university in Turkey, via a questionnaire. The instrument was prepared by taking Nuremberg Recommendations and MNE special field competencies for teacher qualifications into consideration. The participants were asked to self-assess themselves on a five-point scale, which indicates the degree of agreement with the given items. The instrument was found reliable with a .888 alpha value. The results showed that the participants are least comfortable with their language fluency and knowledge about the target language culture. However, belief in lifelong learning and knowledge about the methodological aspects of teaching children were accepted more. The findings of the research have implications for language teacher preparation for the primary school.