Kazakhstani Pre-Service Teacher Educators’ Beliefs on Translanguaging
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Date
2019-06
Authors
Tastanbek, Serikbolsyn
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education
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.