Enhancing Pre-Service Teacher Education in Türkiye: Critical Multilingual Language Awareness through Linguistic Landscapes

• In Event: Critical and Humanizing Teacher Education for Multilingual Learners: Developing Multilingual Teacher Knowledge Across Contexts

Abstract

This study explores how Linguistic Landscapes (LLs) foster Critical Multilingual Language Awareness (CMLA) among preservice English language teachers (PELTs) in Türkiye. Grounded
in a critical perspective, it adopts indexical-ordering as a theoretical and analytical framework to examine how PELTs’ second-order indexing revealed developing CMLA. Sixty PELTs completed LL projects, analyzing multilingual signage from the local context. Data sources included LL images and written reflections. Thematic analysis identified three themes: (a) recognizing global-local linguistic relationships, (b) adopting a situated perspective, and (c) acknowledging linguistic diversity as tied to social justice. Findings show how LL analysis supported PELTs in critically examining ideological hierarchies, power relations, and social meaning in multilingual signage, contributing to the limited scholarship on CMLA in EFL teacher education.

Authors

• Basak Cermikli Ayvaz, Vanderbilt University

• Amber N. Warren, Vanderbilt University

• Irem Comoglu, Dokuz Eylul University