Discipline-specific attitudinal differences of EMI students towards translanguaging

Abstract

This study examines discipline-specific attitudinal differences in translanguaging when studying through English Medium Instruction following a mixed methods research design. The quantitative data for this study came from the Mathematics, Physical and Life Sciences (n = 173) and Social Sciences (n = 172) divisions of a major public university in Turkey. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted (n = 20). After conducting exploratory factor analysis to validate the questionnaire, we ran two independent samples t-tests to investigate the differences in the attitudes of the participants. Results revealed a statistically significant difference in the general attitudes towards translanguaging in the two divisions but not regarding their attitudes towards teachers’ and their own use of translanguaging in class. The qualitative analysis provided partial support for the quantitative analysis. The research suggests important implications by validating the translanguaging questionnaire in the Turkish setting and by highlighting discipline-specific differences observed towards translanguaging practices.