Kazakhstani In-Service Teachers’ Views on Implementing the Trilingual Education Policy through Pedagogical Translanguaging

Bilingual and trilingual education is becoming the new normality where the use of multiple languages are targeted toward teaching both language and content subjects. Kazakhstan, which is known for its unique bilingual-making history, is now embracing trilingualism or the policy of the “Trinity of Languages” as the policymakers usually refer to it. The policy expects secondary schools to shift to trilingual schooling which essentially puts the in-service teachers in a very challenging position. This is because the three languages in the policy which are Kazakh, Russian, and English were assigned as the mediums of instruction making it important to investigate the policy’s main implementers’ attitude towards it. As in such trilingual contexts, the use of multiple languages tends to be present in classroom spaces, this research sets out to explore it from a pedagogical translanguaging perspective. In this research study, I explored Kazakhstani in-service teachers’ attitudes towards the use of pedagogical translanguaging in implementing the policy, whether their attitudes influence their teaching practices, and what strategies they employ to incorporate pedagogical translanguaging into their teaching. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eleven in-service teachers who were purposefully selected for the study in accordance with the inclusion criteria. Besides the in-depth semi-structured interviews, I also conducted lesson observations with each of the eleven teachers, and document analysis was also included as a triangulation method. The findings of this study highlighted the fact that the in-service teachers had varying opinions and attitudes toward pedagogical translanguaging, and these were mostly reflected in the ways they taught in classroom spaces. The document analysis showed some aspects of mismatch and ongoing changes and setbacks to the policy. In view of these findings, the study provides implications for future research as well as recommendations for different stakeholders where the teachers’ professional development specifically in translanguaging awareness is identified as one of the most important aspects of implementing the policy.