This volume provides an up-to-date collection of key aspects related to current preschool bilingual education research from a socio-linguistic perspective. The focus is on preschool bilingual education in multilingual Europe, which is characterized by diverse language models and children's linguistic backgrounds. The book explores the contemporary perspectives on early bilingual education in light of the threefold theoretical framework of child's, teachers', and parents' agencies in interaction in preschool bilingual education. Five significant theoretical concepts are promoted in this volume: the ecology of language learning, an educational partnership for bilingualism, a notion of agency in early language development and education, language-conducive contexts, and language-conducive strategies. The volume examines preschool bilingual education as embedded in specific socio-cultural contexts on the one hand and highlights its universal features on the other. The book isa fundamental read for scholars and students of second language teaching, preschool education, and bilingual education in multilingual and multicultural societies.

Inhalt

Preface.- Preschool Bilingual Education: Agency in Interactions between Children, Teachers, and Parents, **  **Mila Schwartz.- Part I: Teacher's Challenges in Navigating Bilingual Spaces in their Classrooms and Practical Decisions.- Separating the Languages in a Bilingual Preschool: To Do or Not to Do? Danijela Proi, Danijela Radovi.- Pre-School Bilingual Education in Malta: The Realities and the Challenges, Charles L. Mifsud, Lara Ann Vella.- Whose Challenge is it? Learners and Teachers of English in Hungarian Preschool Contexts, Réka Lugossy.- Part II: Creating Language-conducive Contexts to Engage Children in Language Learning.- Longing for Quality: Experiences of Finnish-Russian Bilingual Kindergartens in Finland, Ekaterina Protassova.- Dynamics in Interaction in Bilingual Team Teaching: Examples from a Finnish Preschool Classroom, Karita Mård-Miettenen, Åsa Palviainen, Anu Palojärvi.- The Role of Early Childhood Education in Revitalizing a Minoritized Language in an Unsupportive Policy Context: The Galician Case, Renée DePalma, María Helena Zapico Barbeito.- EFL Teachers' Reflections on their Teaching Practice in Spanish Preschools: A Focus on Motivation, Gunhild Tomter Alstad, Elena Tkachenko.- Scaffolding Discourse Skills in Pre-primary L2 Classrooms, María Teresa Fleta Guillén.- Play and Peer Interaction in a Low-exposure Foreign Langauge-learning program, Sandie Mourão.- The Role of Language Experts in Novices' Language Acquisition and Socialization: Insights from an Arabic-Hebrew Speaking Preschool in Israel, Mila Schwartz, Naomi Gorbatt