The beliefs and thoughts of future teachers can offer valuable information, among others, to see how they understand the profession, to analyze how their teacher identity develops or to explore the decisions they would take in the teaching-learning process. In this study, we analyze the responses given by a group of 56 pre-service teachers in the multilingual context of the Basque Country (Spain) when designing their ‘ideal school’. More specifically, we focus on their ideas about the languages to be included in the curriculum, the modes of inclusion of students’ home languages and language policies they would establish in their ideal schools. This is a qualitative study, in which thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings show that these future teachers would ideally design Basque immersion schools, with an increase of English-medium class hours, and would include mainly hegemonic majority languages such as German and French as optional foreign languages. Students overall show multicultural awareness and would include students’ home languages in their schools, although the ways to do so are rather superficial. With regards to language policy, students show divergent views on the use of L1 vs. the exclusive use of the target language in language learning.

Authors:
Nerea Villabona, University of the Basque Country, Spain

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Nerea Villabona is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at University of the Basque Country in Spain

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