Cypriot Teachers’ Attitudes on Bilingualism
Maria Christopoulou, Maria Pampaka, Maria Vlassopoulou

Abstract
The present study focuses on bilingualism in the primary schools of Cyprus. A questionnaire was designed in order to investigate attitudes and beliefs of the primary school teachers towards multilingual children. 50 teachers in 52 primary schools participated in the study. The results showed that the teachers felt a) fear and concern for their own professional aptitudes to confront and deal with multilingual issues due to the lack of suitable training, and b) that the bilingual children should be integrated in the classrooms. In addition, the teachers felt that there is a lack of guidance, support, training and collaboration by the responsible authorities in Cyprus. In conclusion, the results of this study are precious for the planning of programs on education of bilingual/multilingual students and will serve as basis for the structure of a well formed training plan to assist teachers in their classrooms.

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