ABSTRACT
The growth of early English instruction across the globe in the past 15 years has led to an increasing demand for teachers with the knowledge and skill to support English instruction with young learners. Since teacher education plays an important role in ensuring teacher quality it is not surprising that efforts to promote this have grown exponentially alongside this demand. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a critical and in-depth account of early language learning teacher education to date and to consider priorities going forward. The chapter starts by charting the evolution of early language learning teacher education. This is followed by a discussion of current provision with reference to two major functions of teacher education: initial teacher education, with its focus on the preparation of novice teachers, and in-service teacher education, with its aim to provide ongoing support for teachers through formal and informal activities. Under each of these functions, core principles and practices are identified, the implications of these for early language learning teacher education provision are discussed and the contribution of current practice and research is provided. The chapter concludes with a number of recommendations for practice and some proposed future directions and agendas.
