Οπτικές Εκπαιδευτικών και Μαθητών για Ζητήματα Πολυγλωσσίας στην Κύπρο

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was twofold: a) to provide an account of primary school teachers’ beliefs regarding plurilingualism and foreign language learning/ teaching in the Cypriot educational context; b) to record primary school students’ attitudes to learning English and other languages. Semi-structured interviews were used as the basic instrument to collect data from 100 teachers, while a self-report questionnaire was used as the instrument of collecting information from 1265 students. The findings indicated both primary school teachers’ and students’ positive attitudes towards plurilingualism. Despite teachers’ acknowledgement of English language as a strong communicative tool, the need for students to acquire multilingual communicative competence was also recorded. Moreover, the benefits from early language learning were highlighted. Concerning the students, despite the fact that they regarded English as the basic means of international communication, they expressed willingness either to acquire or improve their skills in other European languages.