An examination of teachers’ language policing in EFL young learner classrooms in Turkey

Abstract

This study explores the instances when teachers employ language policing (Amir, 2013) in the Turkish EFL young learners’ context. Language policing studies are scarce in EFL young learners’ classrooms. Hence, this study is an attempt to address the gap in the literature concerning EFL young learners’ contexts from the expanding circle and contribute to the code switching literature. Data consists of 270-minute video recordings from three different classes in two private schools in Turkey and it was analysed using Conversation Analysis. Results show the presence of Turkish, English, as well as a bilingual medium before and after the policing was initiated through formulaic expressions. Unlike some secondary school contexts where the English-only policy is enforced with a strict rewards and punishment policy (Amir & Musk, 2013), speaking Turkish and the bilingual medium for the most part of the lessons was not corrected by the teachers in the current study. These findings have implications for teaching EFL to young learners, language policing and code switching in secondary contexts.

Keywords

• Code switching
• Conversation analysis
• EFL
• Language policing
• Young language learners

Türkiye’de İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen çocukların sınıflarında öğretmenlerin gerçekleştirdiği dil polisliği incelemesi

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen çocukların sınıflarında öğretmenler tarafından uygulanan dil polisliği uygulamaları incelenmektedir. İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen çocukların sınıflarında gerçekleştirilen dil polisliği çalışmaları oldukça sınırlıdır. Böylece, bu çalışmayla genişleyen çevreden İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen çocukların sınıflarıyla alanyanızdaki ilgili boşluğu ele alma ve düzenek değiştirme alanyazınına katkıda bulunma hedeflenmiştir. Veriler, Türkiye'deki iki özel okulda üç farklı sınıftan alınan 270 dakikalık video kayıtlarından oluşmaktadır ve söz konusu veriler, Konuşma Analizi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Sonuçlar, sadece Türkçe ve sadece İngilizcenin kullanılmasının yanı sıra kalıplaşmış ifadeler yoluyla da dil polisliğin başlatılmasından önce ve sonra iki dilli bir ortamın varlığını göstermiştir. Sınıfta yalnızca-İngilizce politikasının katı bir ödül ve ceza politikasıyla uygulandığı bazı ortaokul bağlamlarının aksine (Amir & Musk, 2013), kaydedilen derslerin çoğunda ana dil ve ikinci dil sorunsuz bir şekilde kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular doğrultusunda, çocuklara İngilizce öğretimi, dil polisliği ve ortaokul seviyesinde düzenek değiştirme konularında çeşitli çıkarımlar sunulmaktadır.

Keywords

• Çocuk öğrenici
• Dil polisliği
• Düzenek değiştirme
• Konuşma çözümlemesi
• Yabancı dil olarak İngilizce öğretimi

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