Page 142 - Second language development of newly arrived migrant kindergarteners - Frederike Groothoff

142 Chapter 6 a semester and specific observations can be made and feedback can be giving regarding that particular goal. The second conclusion of our analysis of the characteristics of the school learning environment for newly arrived kindergarteners – looking at the separate scores on the ten dimensions of CLASS – was that Mainstream school teachers scored on average higher on the dimensions Positive Climate and Regard for Student Perspectives than teachers at DL2- schools. Although it has to be said that, even though there was a significant difference between DL2-school teachers and Mainstream school teachers in the dimension of Positive Climate, both scored in the mid-range of the score. The differences that we saw between the two school types mean that we saw more evidence of positive relations between teachers and pupils and among pupils at Mainstream schools. Enthusiasm, affection, and respect to each other were more visible in those classes. Furthermore, in Mainstream schools teachers followed the initiative of pupils more often compared to DL2-schools. An explanation of this small difference in Positive Climate and Regard for Student Perspectives could be that the classroom organization at DL2-schools tends to be more rigid than at Mainstream schools, based on my own experiences as a teacher. The organization at DL2-schools seems to be more teacher-centered, with more circle time activities and less play, which might have caused more inflexibility of the teachers and less enthusiasm of the pupils. If circle time is more teacher-centered, the teacher might be less flexible and less likely to include the ideas and comments of the pupils; likewise, pupils might have less say in which activities are chosen. A more detailed investigation of the classroom activities used in each type of school will provide a better understanding of how Positive Climate differs between the two (see Chapter 7). One outcome that should be mentioned is the fact that the score on Positive Climate varied more between DL2-teachers than between Mainstream school teachers. On the one hand this larger variation is not remarkable since there were almost twice as many teachers at DL2-schools in this study compared to the Mainstream schools. On the other hand, there were as many participating DL2-schools as Mainstream schools, and it can be expected that teachers from similar schools share certain practices which would result in less deviation in scores. Further research is needed in order to explain why teachers at DL2- schools varied more in their scores on Positive Climate than Mainstream school teachers. Taking into account that there is a relationship between classroom quality and language development, all educational facilities would benefit from an investigation into process quality. Based on Hamre et al. (2012) and Henrichs and Leseman (2016) process quality in classrooms can be improved when schools invest in the professional development of the teachers. When teachers receive concrete feedback with tips on their performance, improvements can be made. The course that Hamre et al. (2012) facilitated proved that teachers demonstrated more effective emotional and instructional interactions after participation in their course. Also the results of the professionalization of the teachers