Immigrant English-Speaking children in the primary classroom in Spaina new role?

Resumen

The concept of World English that emerged in the 1960s initiated a movement that challenged the idea of a single version of English and opened a debate about which countries set standards and which ones rely on them. However, the school system was somewhat slower to react to these changes. The teaching materials and discourse used in classrooms tend to be oriented towards so-called "standard English" and often do not provide enough examples to cover other varieties. Therefore, having a student in an English class who speaks a variety of English used in Nigeria or Ireland can raise questions for both teachers and peers. The aim of this study is to examines the effect of presence of English-speaking immigrant children in Spain who join schools where they partake in English classes. The general objective is to investigate whether Englishspeaking children can be considered as a new source of language and culture in the classroom. The research was carried out in the province of Madrid and Guadalajara with teachers and trainee teachers. Data were collected using qualitative methods - semi-structured interviews with 18 teachers, in which teachers' attitudes and perceptions about the presence of immigrant children with English as their first/one of their languages were investigated - and quantitative analysis was carried out using NVivo software. The quantitative methods consisted of online questionnaires administered to 34 trainee teachers to elicit their ideas about the environment in which they were conducting their Practicum and the data were analyzed using SPSS. The third element consisted of a lesson plan designed for 4th year students of the Primary Education Degree who already did their Practicum and that was developed to address concepts related to intercultural communication and World Englishes. Through data analysis, it was concluded that teachers attempted to incorporate strategies to include native English-speaking students (NESS) and assign them a role in the classroom. It was revealed that teachers were inclined to use NESS as informants of the culture. However, in most cases, teachers did not consider NESSs as language informants and expressed concern that they may become a source of confusion for their peers. Twenty-four percent of the respondents in the group of trainee teachers have had NESS students in their classrooms and have observed some disruption in their classrooms. Those who had not had NESS students and posed the situation as hypothetical were confident that the classroom environment would change and saw this change as positive. They were very determined to use NESS as a source of information about culture and, to a lesser extent, language as well. The teachers admitted to not knowing much about concepts beyond English as an instrumental language, i.e., Standard English, world languages, or English as a lingua franca. However, the teachers interviewed also proved to be motivated and willing to innovate. The trainee teachers seemed more optimistic and had an attitude of change, which could be attributed to the fact that they were about to finish their studies and enter into teaching practice and had not yet formed their classroom identity. All participants welcomed the idea of a shared online platform where they could access material and contact other teachers. Preparing such a website could be a way to help teachers access the collection of materials that could explain English variants to them. The same platform can be used to search for materials to integrate NESS into the English classroom, which could also help raise awareness of English variants in the classroom. If English-speaking children are to be considered as a new source of language and culture in the classroom, teachers need to be provided with the tools to enable them to do so.