Bilingual pre-service teachers' perceptions of their intercultural and plurilingual competences

Abstract

Se presenta la utilidad de la educación bilingüe desde la perspectiva de un grupo de estudiantes que se forman para profesores bilingües en España. Específicamente, se analizan los niveles de competencias interculturales y bilingües que autoperciben, y la relación entre ambas competencias, en cuanto a cuatro variables: el género, la participación en un programa bilingüe en educación primaria, la participación en programas internacionales y el dominio del idioma. Para ello, se utiliza un cuestionario diseñado por el equipo de investigación del proyecto nacional AUTOCITA. La muestra comprende 99 estudiantes de cuatro universidades públicas de España. Los resultados de las pruebas U de Mann Whitney indican que los niveles autopercibidos de ambas competencias parecen estar vinculados con la participación en programas internacionales y el dominio del idioma. La participación en programas bilingües en Educación Primaria demuestra tener un impacto débil. No se detectan diferencias de género. Las correlaciones de Pearson revelan una correlación positiva entre las dos dimensiones examinadas.

The number of bilingual teacher preparation programs in Spain continues to increase, making it essential for research to address this evolving reality from multiple perspectives. Given that the success or failure of any educational innovation is closely tied to how it is understood and perceived, this study aims to analyse the usefulness of bilingual education from the perspective of one key group of stakeholders: bilingual pre-service teachers. Specifically, participants' levels of self-perceived intercultural and plurilingual competences were measured in relation to four variables: gender, involvement in a bilingual track in primary education, participation in international programs, and language proficiency. The relationship between intercultural competence and plurilingual competence was also examined. Data were collected through a questionnaire designed by the research team of the national project PID2021-127031OB-I00. The sample comprised 99 students from four public universities in Spain. Results of the Mann Whitney U tests indicated that participants' self-perceived levels of both competences seem to be linked with their participation in international programs and their language proficiency. Participation in bilingual programs in primary education proved to have a weak impact. No gender differences were detected. Pearson correlations revealed the positive correlation between the two dimensions examined. This study has gathered overall trends among bilingual pre-service teachers, which can have relevant implications for initial teacher education and language education in general.