Introducing English Language Into Preschool Education – Parents' Perceptions

Abstract

In the modern society that offers opportunities for intercul­tural communication, necessary for both adults and children of preschool and school age, acquisition and knowledge of the En­glish language appears to be inevitable. Lowering the age limit to the preschool children (even younger) to be exposed to and be acquainted with the English language became one of the consti­tuting elements of the contemporary children’s education. The paper investigates the attitudes of preschool children's parents towards the introduction of English language in the preschool education. The study has been conducted among 103 parents of the children who attended a non-state preschool institution “Reuda” in Novi Pazar. Data has been collected by the means of a questionnaire that comprised three subsections: parents’ socio-demographic profile, parents’ attitudes on the introduction of the English language in the preschool curriculum, as well as the question on the appropriate age of learning the English lan­guage. After the analysis and discussion of the data obtained it can be concluded that the parents expressed highly positive atti­tudes towards the introduction of the English language into the preschool curriculum. Moreover, the findings highlighted the three important factors that may have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the early foreign language acquisition: parents, preschool teachers and peers. Lastly, the parents considered the age of four and five as the most appropriate for learning a fore­ign language