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Teacher agency and language mediation in two Maltese preschool bilingual classrooms

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/09/2018
<mark>Journal</mark>Language, Culture and Curriculum
Issue number3
Volume31
Number of pages17
Pages (from-to)272-288
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date1/08/18
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

This article contributes to the limited research on teacher agency in early bilingual development and education. Through classroom observations and interviews, we examined the differential degrees of agency of two preschool teachers in Malta as they mediated languages in their bilingual classrooms. The teachers’ background and language beliefs, the sociolinguistic context (national and local), as well as the school language policies influenced their classroom agentive roles. A call is made for adaptive pedagogies and flexible bilingual strategies which meet the language and affective needs of preschool children in a more equitable manner.