Do Pre-Service Generalist Teachers Believe that they can Teach English to Young Learners?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of the Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) course on pre-service generalist teachers’ belief sets. To achieve the aim of the study, a sequential explanatory mixed method was conducted as a research design. In the quantitative phase, a one-group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was implemented on 75 senior pre-service generalist teachers at a Turkish state university via a questionnaire on beliefs about teaching English to young learners. The findings elicited from descriptive scores as means and inferential statistics as Mann-Whitney U 4 Wilcoxon Signed Ranks statistics showed that no difference was observed between the tests, but relatively high mean scores in beliefs about children’s English development and mediocre mean scores in self-efficacy were found. The unexpected results in the first phase led to a more qualitative investigation by consulting the same participants through reflective reports. Content analysis supplemented the quantitative findings with the emerged themes at the level of the educational system deciphered with causal codes. The emergent codes and themes included a shortage of enjoyable learning environments, the negative impact of teachers, curriculum, national exams, compulsory TEYL course, online basic English course, and workload of generalist teachers; and individual attributions coded in lack of self-confidence in English proficiency, dislike of English, speaking anxiety, and worry about making mistakes. On the grounds of the findings, several educational implications were also proposed. © 2026, Asociacion Mexicana de Maestros de Ingles MEXTESOL A.C. All rights reserved.