A Case Study in Turkey: Attitudes of EFL Teachers towards Intercultural Sensitivity

Abstract

Turkey is and always has been a multicultural country with a population characterized by multiple ethnicities. Many Turks often communicate in their ancestral mother tongue in social situations and use Turkish at all other times (Aydin & Ozfidan, 2014). Despite this history of cultural diversity, as the number of refugees—including those from Syria—and international exchange students increases, Turkish classrooms are becoming more multicultural. As such, teachers must have intercultural sensitivity and have the ability to simultaneously teach students with multiple cultural backgrounds. Accordingly, this study aimed to determine the level of intercultural sensitivity in a group of EFL teachers (n=10) from 7 Turkish universities. The participants completed a 3-section questionnaire sent via e-mail; a study-specific tool for collecting data on their professional intercultural experience; the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale, which is an objective measure of the general level of intercultural sensitivity; an 8-item open-ended study-specific set of questions to measure the level of intercultural sensitivity in the classroom. The results suggest that the participants, who mostly display a satisfactory level of intercultural sensitivity, are still in need of development in certain aspects.

Keywords

• English language teachers
• intercultural communication
• intercultural sensitivity

Türkiye'de bir vaka analizi: İngilizce öğretmenlerinin kültürlerarası duyarlılık kavramına yaklaşımları

Öz

Türkiye her zaman çok kültürlülük unsuruyla şekillenmiş bir ülke konumunda olmuştur. Birçok Türk özel yaşam alanında atalarından kalma bir dili kullanırken diğer sosyal ve resmi ortamlarda Türkçeyi kullanmaktadır (Aydin & Ozfidan, 2014).. Bu öteden beri var olan kültürel çeşitliliğe, günümüzde bir de artan sayılarda, bilhassa Suriye'den gelen, mülteciler ve uluslararası değişim programları sayesinde farklı milletlerden öğrencilerin varlığı eklenmekte, bu da Türkiye'deki eğitim öğretim ortağının çok kültürlü yapısına katkıda bulunmaktadır. Bu durum Türkiye'deki öğretmenlerin farklı kültürel geçmişlerden gelen öğrencileri içeren sınıflarda ders verirken kültürlerarası duyarlılıkla hareket etmelerini gerekli kılmaktadır. Bu çalışma Türkiye’deki 7 farklı üniversiteden çalışmaya katılan bir grup İngilizce öğretmeninin kültürlerarası duyarlılık seviyesini belirlemek amacıyla yürütülmüş olup katılımcılar kendilerine gönderilen veri toplama araçlarına e-mail aracılığıyla cevap vermişlerdir. Katılımcılara mail yoluyla gönderilen anket üç kısımdan oluşmaktadır: profesyonel yaşamlarındaki kültürlerarası tecrübelerini sorgulayan çoktan seçmeli bölüm; Kültürlerarası Duyarlılık Anketi ; çalışmanın amacına uygun tasarlanmış 8 açık uçlu soru. Katılımcıların genel olarak yüksek kültürlerarası duyarlılık seviyesine sahip oldukları fakat bazı alanlarda da ilerlemeye ihtiyaç duydukları belirlenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İngilizce öğretmenleri
• Kültürlerarası iletişim
• kültürlerarası duyarlılık

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