Abstract

Globalization has driven the popularity of teaching English as a lingua franca. In Kuwait, expanding the teaching and learning of English to include public kindergarten schools would be an innovative practice, which would bring great expected learning outcomes. First, it would help children achieve more native-like pronunciation. Second, it would consolidate the notion that English is the language of study at later stages of education. To achieve these high expectations, it is important to explore the beliefs of Kuwaiti kindergarten teachers about teaching English. For the purpose of the study, 90 female Kuwaiti teachers whose first language is Arabic were randomly selected from three educational districts to respond to a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. SPSS was used to calculate percentages, means and standard deviations. ANOVA and t-test were applied to identify significant differences with reference to the study variables (affiliation, experience, and educational district). The results indicated that kindergarten teachers believed strongly in the importance of teaching English to children at kindergarten stage. They reaffirmed the importance of children learning English as a global language as a means to empowerment and improved international communication. However, teachers were concerned that learning a foreign language at a young age may have a negative impact on their mother-tongue Arabic, especially their writing skills. The results identified significant differences with reference to participant affiliation and years of experience. Finally, the study concluded with some recommendations.

摘要

全球化推动了英语教学作为通用语言的普及。在科威特，将英语教学和学习范围扩大到公立幼儿园将是一种创新做法，将带来良好的预期学习成果。首先，它将帮助孩子获得更像母语的发音。其次，它将巩固英语是教育后期学习语言的观念。为了实现这些高期望，探索科威特幼儿园教师对英语教学的信念非常重要。出于该研究的目的，从三个教育区随机选择了 90 名母语为阿拉伯语的科威特女教师来回答李克特 5 点量表问卷。SPSS用于计算百分比、平均值和标准偏差。参考研究变量（从属关系、经验和教育地区），应用方差分析和 t 检验来确定显着差异。结果表明，幼儿园教师坚信在幼儿园阶段教孩子英语的重要性。他们重申了儿童学习英语作为一种全球语言作为增强能力和改善国际交流的手段的重要性。然而，老师们担心在年轻时学习外语可能会对他们的母语阿拉伯语产生负面影响，尤其是他们的写作技巧。结果确定了与参与者隶属关系和经验年数有关的显着差异。最后，研究总结了一些建议。