The Role of Teacher Strategies in Bilingual Instruction to Enhance Children’s Participation in Kindergarten Learning Processes

Abstract

This study examines the strategies used by teachers in bilingual teaching to encourage children’s active participation during the learning process in kindergarten. The main issue examined in this study is how teachers play a role in applying various bilingual teaching strategies as a means to facilitate children’s language development and increase their participation and involvement in learning. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, this study directly examined the natural teaching and learning process through direct classroom observation, semi-structured interviews with teachers, and documentation from three subjects: Science (Data A), Handicrafts (Data B), and Drawing (Data C). This study identified and analyzed five strategies used by teachers in bilingual teaching, namely: code-switching, code-mixing, language scaffolding, bilingual modeling, and bilingual prompts. The results showed that these strategies effectively create an interactive learning environment that encourages children’s active participation, deepens their understanding of language, and builds their confidence through the alternating use of two languages in explaining material, giving instructions, and answering students’ questions during the learning process. The study found that teachers at Yeho Creative Kids Nagoya Kindergarten consistently and adaptively apply these various strategies in teaching bilingual classes with the aim of increasing children’s participation, language skills, and confidence in learning. Therefore, these findings have practical implications for bilingual teaching in other kindergartens, particularly in developing learning strategies that have a positive influence on language development so that teachers play a role in improving students’ cognitive, emotional, and involvement in a multilingual environment.