English Language Education in Türkiye: Is It Enough to Survive in Globalization?

Abstract

Globalization is a process influencing technology, economy, identity, culture, and language. While some communities adapt to globalization and its language, which is English, other communities struggle to keep their locality in globalization and consider the language of globalization as a threat to local cultures and languages. However, the goal of many communities in the global world is to learn and teach English as a global language to survive in globalization itself. Based on the theories of globalization and Bourdieu’s forms of capital, this study uses interviews to investigate the perspectives of ten English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers on the role of English in the global world and the English language education curriculum used in K-12 education in Türkiye. The results of the content analysis reveal that the participants consider English as the language of globalization and a tool necessary to access resources in the global world. However, participants do not find the curriculum in Türkiye goal-oriented to present English as a global language and as a linguistic tool providing access to different forms of capital available in globalization.

Keywords

• English as a global language
• English language education
• Curriculum
• Globalization
• Forms of capital
• Türkiye

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