Teachers as linguistic role models: Language teaching in multilingual ECEC settings

This article examines ECEC teachers' beliefs about being linguistic role models and how these beliefs relate to their language teaching for multilingual children. Due to the increased language diversity in Finland, the demands on teachers have increased. Teachers are expected to be linguistic role models and create multilingual learning opportunities for all children. This study uses quantitative methods to examine the relationships between teachers as linguistic role models and language teaching for multilingual children. A questionnaire was answered by 42 ECEC teachers in Swedish-medium settings in Finland. Data was analyzed using chi-square tests to depict relationships between variables. Results show that teachers largely agree to be linguistic role models. This correlates with seeing adult-led play as important for language development and using dialogic reading as a teaching strategy. Play with peers was highly valued as a language development activity but not related to being a linguistic role model. Although planning reading activities was considered important, it was not related to being a linguistic role model. The latter may indicate that teachers need more knowledge on how these daily activities can become high-quality language teaching situations, especially when developing children’s academic language skills.