An investigation of prospective language teachers’ knowledge and attitudes towards inclusive education in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to find out the knowledge of prospective language teachers about inclusive education, and their skills and professional competences about inclusive practices. Moreover, this study aims to investigate prospective language teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education and their suggestions to make inclusive language education practices successful. The participants of thestudy were a total of twenty 4th year prospective English language teachers. A questionnaire consisting of 8 open-ended questions was given to the participants to gather data. The responses were examined one by one and interpretational approach was used to determine the categories and themes. Four main themes were generated. These themes were knowledge about inclusive education, professional competence, teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and disability, and things to do. The findings showed that although the majority of the participants knew the meaning of inclusive education, only few of them described the detailed process of inclusive education. This study also revealed that although most of the prospective language teachers did not have enough expertise and skills for teaching students with learning difficulties, they had positive attitudes towards inclusive language education. Prospective language teachers also expressed the necessity of pre-service trainings on inclusive education