Aspiring to inspire: A study on student teachers’ early beliefs about the language teaching profession

Abstract

During the past decades, language teaching and learning has been under political pressure in Denmark, being framed in the media as unnecessary. At universities and university colleges, language programs have been shut down and reduced continually, but some young people aspire to become language teachers, nonetheless. This study investigates their thoughts and ideas about the language teaching profession, about language teaching and learning and about the role of languages in the world through a qualitative and quantitative survey of 109 student teachers at the beginning of their language teacher training. Conceptually and methodologically, the study draws on prior research in the fields of teacher cognition and considers its findings in this context. Overall, the future teacher respondents in the study place a great deal of focus on student motivation and wellbeing and seem to adhere to prevalent concepts in Danish curricula such as communicative language teaching, differentiation and interculturality. Nonetheless, even at this early point in their studies, some concerns emerge in relation to self-efficacy and student motivation, pointing to the fact that students are well aware of the current status of languages in society and the influence this may have on their future students’ attitudes and engagement.