Parental Perceptions of the Ideal Foreign Language Teacher : Voices from Eight Countries

Abstract

Early language education has become a global trend as parents from around the world increasingly enroll their children in language classes at preschool or pre-preschool ages. The younger the FL learners are, the greater the parents’ role in their children’s learning process – and the more they may be motivated to be involved in their children’s schoolwork, learning aims, and the way they are being instructed. But what do they want from FL teachers when their children are just beginning their language studies? This topic brought together 14 students from different parts of the world. Students from Canada, China, Colombia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, and Vietnam enrolled in the Research in Early Language Education course at the University of Eastern Finland completed a study asking the above-mentioned question. This article discusses the findings from said study.