Very early foreign language learning at kindergarten

The purpose of my thesis is to give an insight into preschool teachers’ beliefs about teaching a foreign language, in this case English, to kindergarteners and their methods used. While the importance of age factor in foreign language learning is generally recognized, only few studies have focused on the foreign language learning of preschool children. The data gathering instruments contain five semi-structured interviews with preschool English teachers, one native and four Hungarian English teachers. Moreover, I observed overall eight English sessions in one private and three state kindergartens in Southern Hungary. The analysis of the responses revealed the different teaching methods and the preschool English teachers’ suggestions for improvements in very early foreign language learning and teaching. The results indicate that very early foreign language learning makes positive contribution to preschool children’s readiness to elementary school. The results are discussed in light of pedagogical approaches to future very early foreign language teaching.