VOlUME 05 ISSUE 06 June 2026
Manolya SAĞLAM
Biruni University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language Teaching
DOI : https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i6n21Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT
This study explores the pedagogical potential of IELTS-oriented listening and speaking tasks within a first-year Listening and Pronunciation course in an English Language Teaching (ELT) program. Drawing on Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), teacher cognition theory, and washback theory, the study investigates how engagement with IELTS-oriented tasks influences pre-service English teachers’ listening and pronunciation development, communicative competence, pedagogical understandings, and perceptions of assessment-oriented learning. A qualitative case study design was employed with 48 first-year pre-service English teachers enrolled in an ELT program at a foundation university in Istanbul, Türkiye. Data were collected through reflective journals, classroom observations, and semi-structured focus group interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed five interrelated themes. Participants developed greater awareness of spoken English and listening strategies, shifted from accuracy-oriented views of pronunciation toward communicative intelligibility, and increasingly perceived IELTS-oriented tasks as opportunities for meaningful communication rather than solely examination preparation. The findings further indicated that engagement with these tasks contributed to changes in teacher cognition by encouraging more communicative understandings of listening and pronunciation instruction. Participants also reconsidered traditional assumptions regarding the relationship between assessment and pedagogy and recognized the potential of assessment-related activities to support learning and interaction. The study suggests that IELTS-oriented tasks can function as effective pedagogical resources when implemented through communicative and task-based principles. It further highlights the potential of assessment-oriented activities to bridge language assessment and language pedagogy while supporting the preparation of reflective and communicatively oriented future English language teachers.
KEYWORDS:IELTS-oriented tasks; listening and pronunciation; teacher cognition; Task-Based Language Teaching; ELT teacher education.
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Cite this Article:SAĞLAM, M. (2026). Reframing Listening and Pronunciation Pedagogy through IELTS-Oriented Tasks: Exploring Teacher Cognition in ELT Teacher Education. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE HUMANITY & MANAGEMENT RESEARCHS, 5(6), 1533-1545. https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i6n21