How Do Chinese Language Teachers Manage Young Learners’ Classrooms in the United States? Cognition and Behaviors

• In Event: Disruption and Deconstruction With Early Childhood Teachers and Teacher Educators

Abstract

When managing fluid and dynamic foreign language classrooms, teachers' behaviors and cognition play essential roles, and their cultural and experiential backgrounds, along with contextual factors, contribute to their decision-making process. The current study explores the behaviors, cognition, and corresponding rationales of Chinese language teachers' classroom management in a US middle school. Through the analysis of three cases, findings reveal that the participating teachers actively incorporate their educational and teaching experiences into their unique cognition and behavior when managing Chinese language classrooms. Meanwhile, the stated ideal classroom management practices of two teachers born and educated in Asia were hindered to different extents due to the pre-assumptions of US students' behaviors and concerns about administrative and parental expectations.

Authors

• Ziyi Geng, Wake Forest University

• Yesul Han, University of Virginia