Examining teachers’ views on the implementation of English as L3 into primary schools: A case of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan changed the State Educational Program for primary education and the curriculum for teaching English as a third language (L3) to grades 1-4in 2013. As with many changes in the curriculum, English language teaching has also been changed and the starting age for learning of English language has been lowered to 6-7 years of age (Grade 1). However, implementation of the curriculum requires readiness on the part of the teachers and teachers' views about teaching English in primary school is important for successful implementation of English language policy. Thus, this research aims to investigate the teachers’ views about the starting age for L3 learning, teachers' professional development, teaching materials and problems of implementation of a language policy in primary schools in Kazakhstan. The data for the study was gathered from 105 English teachers working in different primary schools. The study revealed that most have not yet made a transition to the organized system of teaching English languages in primary school.

Keywords

• Young learners
• English language teaching
• primary school
• professional development
• teaching materials.