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In:Early Language Education in Instructed Contexts: Current issues and empirical insights into teaching and learning languages in primary school
Edited by Stefanie Frisch and Karen Glaser
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 62] 2025
► pp. 260–285

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Chapter 12
Student teachers’ and mentors’ perceptions of effective teaching techniques in the primary L2 English classroom

 | Mannheim University
 | Leipzig University
 | University of Potsdam
 | University of Potsdam
 | University of Passau
 | University of Würzburg
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 22 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.62.12ker
Abstract
This chapter presents the results of a multi-site study that employed the Teacher Input Observation Scheme (TIOS, Kersten et al., 2018) in the context of the primary second language (L2) English practicum to elicit self- and other-assessments of classroom practices from 74 student teachers and their 13 university mentors at three German universities. The four TIOS sub-scales permit a differentiated view on mentor and student perceptions of language teaching strategies to shed light on this crucial phase of pre-service teacher education programmes. ANOVAs showed that student and mentor ratings did not differ systematically, but a significant interaction was found between ratings and universities, hinting at a possible intervening role of academic programs. Linear regression analyses revealed that pedagogic experience negatively predicted ratings, suggesting that both groups’ assessments become stricter with teaching experience. Implications for primary English language teacher education and research are discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Role and effects of input quality in ISLA
    • 2.2Student teachers’ and experienced teachers’ perceptions
      of instructional quality and teaching competences
  • 3.Research aims and methodology
    • 3.1Research questions
    • 3.2Sample
    • 3.3Procedure
      • 3.3.1Instruments
      • 3.3.2Elicitation
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1ANOVA results for RQ1 (differences students-mentors) and RQ2 (differences between universities)
    • 4.2Regression analyses for RQ 3 (role of pedagogic experience) and RQ 4 (role of pedagogic experience and university combined)
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Differences between student and mentor perceptions (RQ1) and universities (RQ2)
      • 5.1.1Overall differences between students and mentors
      • 5.1.2Overall differences between universities
      • 5.1.3Overall differences in the interactions
      • 5.1.4Simple effects to explain overall differences
        • 5.1.4.1Differences between students and mentors across universities
        • 5.1.4.2Differences between students and students across universities
      • 5.1.5Possible explanation of overall differences
    • 5.2Effects of teaching experience of students and mentors (RQ3 and RQ4)
    • 5.3Limitations
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Note
  • References
References (53)
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