Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to find out preschool teacher educators' opinions on foreign language education at preschool. The opinions of a preschool teacher educator at a state university and a teacher at a preschool in a private institution were obtained through structured and semi structured interviews. The opinions were then coded and categorized. The emerging categories were the effects of foreign language education on children's mental development, the age to start foreign language education, teachers of foreign language, and ways of teaching foreign language to preschoolers. The participants agreed on the beneficial effects of foreign language education at early ages, methods of teaching, and the qualities of teachers. However, they differed in the appropriate age to start foreign language education. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of The Association of Science, Education and Technology