Exploring the Opinions of Lecturers and Preparatory Students About Culture in Their Language Classrooms

Abstract

Culture teaching in EFL classrooms has been widely investigated by researchers, program developers and teachers. Having been regarded as challenging in terms of both instructional and pedagogical aspects, it still occupies a remarkable place in EFL classrooms. To this end, the primary concern of this study is to discuss culture and culture teaching in general terms through the eyes of English language instructors and preparatory students. Moreover, to capture the great number of potential angles, the contribution of the course book “English File” to culture teaching is also explored. To serve this purpose, a mixed method research design was adopted to reveal whether there was a conscious culture teaching at a preparatory school of a state university in Turkey. Within this scope, 15 English language instructors and 122 learners were randomly selected to respond a questionnaire in addition to semi- structured interviews. Triangulation was achieved through qualitative, quantitative data, and document analysis which provides rich insights on culture in language classrooms. While quantitative data was analyzed via SPPS program, qualitative data was gone through content analysis. Incorporating both qualitative and quantitative data obtained from considerable number of respondents, the study revealed that both instructors and students agreed that culture is to be taught in language classrooms. With the central aim being to cover all relevant ideas with regards to culture, this study highlights that instructors need to develop appropriate methodology in order to make their learners aware of cultural differences which merits serious consideration.

Keywords

• Culture,Intercultural Communicative Competence,Teaching Culture

Dil Sınıflarında Kültür Öğretimi Hakkında Okutman ve Hazırlık Sınıfı Öğrencilerinin Görüşlerinin İncelenmesi

Öz

Yabancı dil sınıflarında kültür öğretimi araştırmacılar, öğretmenler ve program geliştiriciler tarafından detaylıca araştırılmıştır. Hem öğretimsel hem pedagojik açıdan zorlayıcı olduğu değerlendirildiği için, yabancı dil sınıflarında önemli bir yeri vardır. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışmanın öncelikli amacı genel olarak kültürü, öncelikli olarak ise yabancı dil sınıflarında kültür öğretimini hem okutmanlar hem de öğrencilerin görüşleri doğrultusunda tartışmaktır. Dahası, bu konuda daha çok açıyı ele almak adına kullanılan ders kitabı “English File” ın kültür öğretimine katkısı araştırılacaktır. Bu amaçla, Türkiye'de bir devlet üniversitesinde bir hazırlık okulunda bilinçli bir kültür öğretiminin olup olmadığını ortaya koymak için karma bir yöntem araştırma tasarımı benimsenmiştir. Bu kapsamda, 6 öğrenciyle yapılan yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelere ek olarak, bir ankete yanıt vermek üzere hazırlık sınıflarında ders veren 15 İngilizce okutmanı ve 122 öğrenci rastgele seçilmiştir. Yabancı dil sınıflarında kültürün tüm olası açıları hakkında bilgi veren belge analizine ek olarak, hem niteliksel hem de nicel verilerle doğrulama sağlanmıştır. Nicel veriler SPPS programı ile analiz edilirken, nitel veriler içerik analizi yoluyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Önemli sayıda katılımcıdan elde edilen hem nicel hem de nitel verileri bir araya getiren çalışma, hem eğitmenlerin hem de öğrencilerin kültürün dil sınıflarında öğretilmesi konusunda hem fikir oldukları gözlenmiştir. Asıl amaç kültürle ilgili tüm fikirleri kapsamakla birlikte, bu çalışma, öğrencilerin kültürel farklılıklardan haberdar olmaları, farkındalık ve duyarlılık seviyelerini artırmaları için okutmanların uygun öğretim metodları kullanmaları gerektiğini vurgulamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kültür,Kültürlerarası İletişimsel Yetkinlik,Kültür Öğretimi

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