IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/eltjnl/v8y2015i2p35.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Early EFL Education Is on the Rise in Oman: A Qualitative Inquiry of Parental Beliefs about Early EFL Learning

Author

Listed:
  • Ali Kemal Tekin

Abstract

Today’s parents are more interested in having their children acquire English language skills as early as possible because they see the demands of the globalizing world context and contemporary trends in society and wish to ensure that their children can live in a future (quite possibly) English-speaking society. These developments, particularly in the Gulf Region in general and in Oman in particular, have led the educational sector to accelerate efforts over the last decade to initiate hundreds of early childhood education programs that offer bilingual education systems. However, no research has been conducted in the Omani context on parents’ beliefs about early instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL); claims regarding this issue remain speculative. This qualitative research study investigated parental beliefs about early EFL learning in Oman. Participants were 11 parents with children enrolled at a bilingual early childhood program. Interviews and a demographic survey were conducted. Findings revealed that parents are well aware of the benefits, challenges, and solutions of early EFL education. An exhaustive description of parents’ beliefs about early EFL learning was extracted. Implications and recommendations for research, policy, and practice are offered.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali Kemal Tekin, 2015. "Early EFL Education Is on the Rise in Oman: A Qualitative Inquiry of Parental Beliefs about Early EFL Learning," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(2), pages 1-35, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:eltjnl:v:8:y:2015:i:2:p:35
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/download/44499/24171
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/view/44499
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abbas Gilakjani & Seyedeh Ahmadi & Mohammad Ahmadi, 2011. "Why is Pronunciation So Difficult to Learn?," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 4(3), pages 1-74, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Halil Ercan & Mehmet Demirezen, 2023. "Pronunciation Teaching Perception Scale (PTPS) for In-Service Teachers," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    2. . Moedjito, 2016. "The Teaching of English Pronunciation: Perceptions of Indonesian School Teachers and University Students," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(6), pages 1-30, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:eltjnl:v:8:y:2015:i:2:p:35. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.