U.S. Pre-service Teachers' Perceptions of their Non-native English Speaking Instructor

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify U.S. undergraduate pre-service elementary and early childhood teachers’ perceptions of their non-native English speaking (NNES) content area instructor. The question for this study was: In what ways do pre-service teachers’ perception of their NNES literacy course instructor change after a semester-long course? Twenty-three pre-service teachers answered a before-course and after-course questionnaire about their perceptions of having a NNES instructor. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed. Findings suggest that pre-service teachers were concerned with the idea of as possible language barrier, but once this becomes a non-issue, pre-service teachers appreciate the instructor’s experience as a language learner.