An Investigation of Pronunciation-Based Translanguaging Practices in English Language Teacher Education

Abstract

This study investigates pronunciation-based phenomena in translanguaging practices amongst Turkish prospective teachers of English. The participants consist of 76 first-year ELT students at a Turkish university. Employing a mixed-methods design, the study utilises three data collection tools. First, the Language Mixing Questionnaire explores participants’ translanguaging tendencies, with data analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Second, voice recordings of the North Wind and the Sun passage demonstrate speech samples across four speech modes (L2-only, L2-L1, L1-L2, L1-only), analysed phonetically using Praat and evaluated through both descriptive and inferential statistics. Third, semi-structured interviews conducted with five participants provide in-depth insights through inductive thematic analysis. Findings reveal that Turkish prospective teachers of English adopt a cautious yet pragmatic stance towards translanguaging. Despite reservations about fully embracing translanguaging, participants do not refrain from employing intra-sentential and inter-sentential language mixing practices, especially when incorporating elements of L2 English into L1 Turkish. Phonetic analyses demonstrate unique pronunciation features based upon speech modes, with a significantly wider pitch range and greater pitch variability observed when L1 Turkish is predominantly activated in both monolingual and translanguaging speech modes. Additionally, interviews highlight that translanguaging is perceived as a natural and intuitive process. Participants acknowledge bidirectional influences (in-)between L1 Turkish and L2 English pronunciation, resulting in what could be characterised as an ‘interim pronunciation’. It is discussed that these findings can contribute to translanguaging research by offering nuanced insights into pronunciation-based dynamics, whereby linguistic theory and empirical data meet at the nexus of translanguaging and L1/L2 pronunciation.