Teachers’ Views and Experiences on Teaching Second and Subsequent Programming Languages

Tshukudu, Ethel;Cutts, Quintin;Goletti, Olivier;Swidan, Alaaeddin;Hermans, Felienne
(2021) 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER 2021) — Location: Virtual Event, USA (16.August.2021)

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Authors
  • Tshukudu, EthelUniversity of Glasgow
    Author
  • Cutts, QuintinUniversity of Glasgow
    Author
  • Goletti, Olivierorcid-logoUCLouvain
    Author
  • Swidan, AlaaeddinOpen University of the Netherlands
    Author
  • Hermans, FelienneLeiden University
    Author
Abstract
Motivation More and more high schools are teaching program- ming, and in many cases, teachers teach multiple programming languages to the same group of students. Objectives The goal of this paper is to explore the views of high-school teachers on second and subsequent programming languages, including their motivation for teaching multiple languages, their struggles, and their use of transfer strategies when they teach their second or third programming language. Method The study consists of semi- structured interviews with 23 high-school teachers in two European countries. Results Our findings indicate that school pupils face the same issues as university students when moving from first to subsequent languages. Furthermore, the teachers’ attitudes towards second language learning are highly variable, both positive and negative, with some supportive teaching strategies used, but many less helpful ones in evidence too. Discussion Our findings suggest that the value of second language learning needs to be highlighted in teacher professional development materials more strongly and that teachers might need more support in implementing transfer strategies.
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Citations

Tshukudu, E., Cutts, Q., Goletti, O., Swidan, A., & Hermans, F. (2021). Teachers’ Views and Experiences on Teaching Second and Subsequent Programming Languages. ICER 2021: Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research. Published. 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER 2021), Virtual Event, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3446871.3469752