Given the limited time for instruction in the classroom, pronunciation often ends up as the most neglected aspect of language teaching. However, in cases when the learner's pronunciation is expected to be good or native-like, as is expected of language teacher trainees, out-of-class self-study options become prominent. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of online text-to-speech tools used by EFL teacher trainees when preparing for an oral achievement test. The study was conducted with 43 junior year teacher trainees at a large state university in Turkey. A pre-and post-test experimental design was used. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire to explore the trainees' opinions related to pronunciation and their practices to improve this, a post reflection questionnaire for the effectiveness of the procedure, and a speaking rubric to evaluate the oral presentations of the trainees. The results indicate that the trainees perceived a native-like accent as a measure of being a good language teacher. It was also revealed that text-to-speech websites are effective self-study tools in improving trainees' pronunciation.

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Being a collaborative professional development model and contributing to the collaboration and communication skills of the group members, lesson study was coined in Japan and has been applied in many countries since then, which supports and enhances the professional development of teachers or pre-service teachers. Although literature abounds in studies on lesson study or on 21st-century skills, there is no study examining the impact of lesson study on 4Cs. Therefore, adopting an intrinsic case study approach, this paper examined to what extent a lesson study implementation influenced pre-service teachers' 21st-century skills in the Turkish context where lesson study is not an embedded tradition. Participants were six senior students of English language teaching. The data generated were wide-ranging: recordings of meetings, teachers' in-class observation notes, 4Cs checklist, recorded pre-and post-interviews, lesson study observation forms, and post-lesson evaluation forms. Findings showed that 21st-century skills of preservice teachers were developed, and pre-service teachers started to REASON the issues they face in the classroom, PRODUCE alternative way(s) to overcome troubles or support learning, and SHARE their experiences and solutions with colleagues sincerely in a collaborative atmosphere. However, one intriguing finding is that, in a context which does not embed lesson study, if the process is not internalized, it may cause the future teachers to be loath to reason, produce and share due to the lack of self-efficacy as well as the fear of being criticized.

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