ABSTRACT The present qualitative study explores the beliefs of Iranian early childhood English teachers regarding their roles in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to young learners at kindergarten and preschool age. The data were collected through classroom observations and interviews with 13 Iranian EFL kindergarten teachers who volunteered to participate in this study. More specifically, after initial introductory interviews with each participant, their classes were observed, and subsequently, verbal recollection interviews were conducted. Depending on the various administrative constraints at different kindergartens, each participant was observed two to four sessions, 36 sessions in total. Three major themes representing beliefs of the participants emerged from thematic analysis of the interview data. The themes included teachers’ beliefs about, first, the constraints affecting early childhood methodologies and pedagogical practices; second, the influence of English language on children’s native language, culture, and, identity; and third, the attempts required for achieving an ideal early childhood EFL instruction. As such, these results may provide potential implications for policy makers and curriculum designers responsible in this field to encourage reforms in kindergartens’ instructional, administrative, and marketing policies.

中文翻译：

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幼儿英语教学中教师的角色：幼儿园英语教师的信念

摘要 本定性研究探讨了伊朗幼儿英语教师在向幼儿园和学龄前儿童教授英语作为外语 (EFL) 方面的作用的信念。这些数据是通过课堂观察和对 13 名自愿参与本研究的伊朗 EFL 幼儿园教师的访谈收集的。更具体地说，在对每位参与者进行初步介绍性访谈后，观察他们的课程，然后进行口头回忆访谈。根据不同幼儿园的各种管理限制，每个参与者被观察了两到四节，总共 36 节。代表参与者信仰的三个主要主题来自对访谈数据的主题分析。主题包括教师对影响幼儿教育方法和教学实践的制约因素的看法；第二，英语对儿童母语、文化和身份的影响；第三，实现理想的幼儿 EFL 教学所需的尝试。因此，这些结果可能为该领域的政策制定者和课程设计者提供潜在的启示，以鼓励幼儿园教学、管理和营销政策的改革。