Abstract
Innovative designs on instructional strategies and activities for teaching English among younger learners were integrated into a language teacher education program in a university in northern Taiwan. This study analyzed 90 pre-service teachers’ final projects, questionnaires, and class materials to explore their innovations on English activity designs and materials. This study had three major findings. First, participants failed to identify the authentic materials taken from daily life. Second, participants integrated the materials into warm-up, presentation, or production of the lesson, rather than incorporating them throughout the whole instruction. Third, participants, their peers, and in-service teachers had different perceptions of innovation criteria. In order to effectively foster pre-service teachers’ innovation in designing instructional activities, three suggestions are provided.
