Enhancing Students' Ability to Comprehend Intercultural Concepts in EFL Classes

Year 2017, Volume: 19 Issue: 2, 57 - 73, 15.08.2017

Emrah Ekmekçi

https://doi.org/10.17556/erziefd.334894

Abstract

Intercultural language learning has
become an important focus of modern language education recently. Learners may
encounter cultural barriers as well as linguistic barriers in classrooms.
Therefore, teachers should follow some strategies to help them cope with these
intercultural encounters by raising their cultural awareness and engaging them
in culture learning. The study introduces the project called "Let's learn
about other cultures" carried out during the fall semester of 2014-2015
academic year in the English preparatory school of a state university in Turkey
with a group of 40 students. The project aimed at enhancing students’
intercultural concept learning performance using weekly student-designed
bulletins that provide information on the words, phrases, and sentences
indicative of intercultural elements or concepts they encountered in their
classes. The data consisted of 15 students’ responses to the semi-structured
interview questions on the efficiency of the project and their scores on the
test on the words and expressions practiced in the bulletins administered at
the end of the semester. The results showed that most of the students were able
to learn the intercultural words, phrases, and sentences studied as part of the
project and they had positive views on the efficiency of the project.

Keywords

Intercultural communicative competence, intercultural language learning, prospective English teachers

Öğrencilerin Yabancı Dil Sınıflarında Karşılaştıkları Kültürlerarası Kavramları Öğrenme Becerilerinin Geliştirilmesi

Abstract

Kültürlerarası
dil öğreniminin yakın zamanda modern dil eğitiminin önemli bir odak noktası
haline geldiği bilinmektedir. 
Öğrenciler, sınıf ortamında dilbilimsel engellerin yanı sıra kültürel
engellerle de karşılaşabilmektedir. Bu nedenle, öğretmenler, öğrencilerin
kültürel farkındalıklarını artırarak ve kültür öğrenimiyle alakadar olmalarını
sağlayarak öğrencilerin yabancı dil sınıflarında karşılaşılan kültürlerarası
kavramlarla başa çıkabilmeleri için bazı stratejiler takip etmelidir. Bu
çalışma, 2014 – 2015 akademik yılı güz dönemi boyunca Türkiye’deki bir devlet
üniversitesinin İngilizce hazırlık sınıfında 40 kişilik bir öğrenci grubuyla
uygulanan “Diğer kültürleri tanıyalım (Let's learn about other cultures)”
projesini ele almaktadır.  Proje,
öğrencilerin derslerde karşılaştıkları kültürel unsurları ve kavramları içinde
barındıran kelime, ifade ve cümlelerle ilgili bilgi içeren ve kendileri
tarafından haftalık olarak hazırlanan bültenlerin kullanılması yoluyla,
öğrencilerin kültürlerarası kavramları öğrenme performanslarını geliştirmeyi
hedeflemektedir. Çalışmada veriler, 15 öğrencinin katılımıyla gerçekleştirilen
yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme ve dönem sonunda bültende bulunan kültürlerarası
kelime ve ifadeleri ölçen kısa sınav sonuçlarından elde edilmiştir.  Dönemin sonunda öğrencilerin büyük çoğunluğu,
proje kapsamında çalışılan kültürlerarası kelime, ifade ve cümleleri
öğrenebilmiş ve projenin etkililiği konusunda olumlu görüş belirtmişlerdir. 

Keywords

Kültürlerarası kavramlar, kültürel engeller, kültürlerarası farkındalık

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