Kazakhstani Pre-Service Teacher Educators’ Beliefs on Translanguaging

Abstract

Teacher educators are partially responsible for the development of pre-service teachers’ beliefs towards translanguaging during university-based teacher preparation programs. There is scarce information on whether Kazakhstani pre-service teacher educators acknowledge translanguaging as a legitimate practice and pedagogic strategy. The purpose of this study, then, is to explore pre-service teacher educators’ beliefs on translanguaging as a practice and pedagogical strategy. To achieve that goal, the following research question is posed: What are Kazakhstani pre-service teacher educators’ beliefs on translanguaging? There are also two subquestions: 1) What are Kazakhstani pre-service teacher educators’ beliefs on translanguaging as a general practice? 2) What are Kazakhstani pre-service teacher educators’ beliefs on the use of translanguaging as a pedagogical tool in their teaching practice? This qualitative interview-based study was built on Macaro’s (2014) framework of beliefs towards the use of languages other than English in classes, which includes the virtual, maximal, and optimal beliefs. All 10 participants were faculty members from two higher education pedagogical institutions in Shymkent that train students majoring in “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages,” where one of the languages is English. The findings revealed that most of the teacher educators had the maximal belief towards translanguaging. They preferred to mainly use English, and consequently viewed translanguaging as a last resort. However, another finding indicates that there were instances when translanguaging was indeed valued as a pedagogical tool. The conflicted responses of the teacher educators imply that their opinions about translanguaging are still being transformed.