PA28 INSTRUCTOR PLT EXPERIENCES NMAC WITH SA34. INVALID COMMUNICATION FROM ATC TRAINEE MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED.

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I WAS HDG NBOUND; VFR; AND RECEIVING TA'S WHILE ENRTE TO ONE OF OUR PRACTICE AREAS. A SAAB 340 WAS INBOUND FOR A SCHEDULED ACR STOP INTO ZZZ. ZZZ APCH HAD SAAB ON A BASE LEG FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 17R. THE SAAB WAS EBOUND ON HIS BASE LEG ON THE NW SIDE OF THE AIRFIELD. DEP CTL CALLED TFC FOR ME; THE SAAB ON A VISUAL APCH. I RPTED THAT I HAD THE TFC IN SIGHT TO MY 10-11 O'CLOCK POS AND I WOULD PROCEED WBOUND TO PASS BEHIND THE SAAB AND THEN CONTINUE NBOUND. DEP CTL THEN INFORMED ME THAT THE SAAB WAS TURNING S. I UNDERSTOOD THAT STATEMENT TO MEAN THAT THE SAAB WAS IMMEDIATELY TURNING S AND DIRECTLY AT ME HAD I TURNED W. I THEN REPLIED THAT I WOULD REMAIN NBOUND TO AVOID THE SAAB; HOWEVER; THE SAAB DID NOT TURN S AS DEP CTL INFORMED ME THEY WERE; THUS PLACING US ON A CONVERGING FLT COURSE. WHEN I REALIZED THIS; I BEGAN AN IMMEDIATE CLB TO GAIN ALT OVER THE SAAB; AS I THOUGHT HE WAS DSNDING ON HIS APCH. I SAW THE SAAB PITCH DOWNWARD AS HE PASSED BELOW ME. AFTER MY FLT I CALLED APCH TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED; AND TO EXPLAIN MY SIDE OF THE STORY. THE CTLR I SPOKE WITH WAS TRAINING IN A NEW CTLR; WHOM WAS ON THE RADIOS. THE CTLR I SPOKE WITH SAID THE 'SAAB TURNING S' STATEMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SAID TO ME; AS THEN I WOULD HAVE TURNED W AND THE CONFLICT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. THE CTLR STATED THAT HE WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING I DID. HE ALSO MENTIONED THAT THE SAAB RESPONDED TO AN RA FROM POSSIBLY MORE THAN 1 ACFT. ZZZ IS AN EXTREMELY BUSY FLT TRAINING ENVIRONMENT. I VERY STRONGLY FEEL THAT THE 'SOUTH' STATEMENT FROM THE CTLR IS WHAT DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE INCIDENT. HAD THAT FALSE STATEMENT NOT BEEN SAID; I WOULD HAVE TURNED W AND REMAINED WELL CLR OF THE SAAB. FACTORS WERE A NEW; INEXPERIENCED CTLR; HIGH WORKLOAD FOR THE CTLRS; MANY ACFT IN THE AREA; AND MISCOM ON THE CTLR'S PART.