EFL TEACHER CANDIDATES’ INNER CIRCLE ENGLISH PREFERENCES AND THE FACTORS BEHIND THEM

The goal of the present study was to investigate English language teacher candidates' Inner Circle English variety (i.e., British and American English) preferences through their language use in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar and to examine individuals' opinions on the factors affecting their English variety adoption preferences in the context of Turkey. Following the adaption of the instrument employed, the data was garnered from 158 pre-service English language teachers enrolled in an English teacher education program at a state university in Turkey. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests and descriptive statistics were conducted for the quantitative data analysis, while content analysis was used for the analysis of the qualitative data. The results indicated that English language teacher candidates exhibited a strong preference for American English with respect to pronunciation and vocabulary while neither variety had an overall prevalence for spelling and grammar. Furthermore, the factors contributing to the adoption of an English variant consisted of elements such as perceived easiness of a variety, exposure to popular culture and media, attitudes towards a particular variety, and in-class factors including teachers and materials. Following the discussion in relation to the literature, the study is concluded with pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research.