Yabancı Dil Olarak İngilizce Öğretiminde Eleştirel Kültürel Farkındalık: Türk Öğretmenlerin Bakış Açılarına Yönelik Karma Yöntemli Bir Çalışma

Öz

Bu çalışma, İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğreten Türk öğretmenlerin, Byram’ın Kültürlerarası İletişimsel Yeterlilik modelinin temel bileşenlerinden biri olan ve kültürel bakış açılarının, uygulamaların ve ürünlerin eleştirel olarak değerlendirilmesini içeren eleştirel kültürel farkındalık kavramına ilişkin görüşlerini araştırmaktadır. Çalışmada özellikle öğretmenlerin eleştirel kültürel farkındalığı nasıl kavramsallaştırdıkları, bu kavramın İngiliz dili öğretimi programlarına entegrasyonuna ve ders kitapları ve materyallerdeki temsiline ilişkin algıları ile dil eğitiminde eleştirel kültürel farkındalığı geliştirmeye yönelik stratejiler incelenmektedir. Açıklayıcı sıralı karma yöntem araştırma deseninin kullanıldığı çalışmada, nicel veriler kartopu örnekleme yoluyla belirlenen 120 katılımcıya çevrimiçi uygulanan Eleştirel Kültürel Farkındalık Anketi ile toplanmıştır. Ardından nicel bulguları daha derinlemesine açıklamak amacıyla, anketi yanıtlayan katılımcılar arasından 14 gönüllü öğretmenle yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bulgular, öğretmenlerin kültürel çeşitliliği, kültürel eşitliği ve öğrencilerin yerel kültürel kimliklerinin İngiliz dili öğretimine dâhil edilmesini güçlü bir şekilde desteklediğini ortaya koymaktadır. Bununla birlikte öğretmenlerin eleştirel kültürel farkındalık anlayışları, Byram’ın eleştirel kültürel farkındalık kavramını niteleyen temsil, güç ilişkileri, ideoloji ve eşitsizliğin eleştirel olarak sorgulanmasından çok kültürlerarası karşılaştırma, kültürel anlayış ve karşılıklı saygı üzerinde yoğunlaşmaktadır. Katılımcılar ayrıca İngiliz dili öğretimi programlarında ve küresel öğretim materyallerinde Batılı ve anadili İngilizce olan konuşurlara ait kültürel bakış açılarının hâkimiyetinin sürdüğünü düşünmekte ve yerel kültürel içeriğe daha fazla yer verilmesi gerektiğini vurgulamaktadır. Öğretmenler, eleştirel kültürel farkındalığı artırmak için özgün materyalleri, mesleki gelişim olanaklarını ve uluslararası projeleri önemli araçlar olarak görmektedir. Çalışmanın bulguları, İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğreten Türk öğretmenlerin eleştirel kültürel farkındalığının gelişmekte olan ancak tutarsız bir görünüm sergilediğine işaret etmektedir. Bu doğrultuda çalışma, öğretmen yetiştirme programlarının ve müfredatların kültürün temsil, ideoloji ve güç gibi eleştirel boyutlarını daha açık bir biçimde ele almasının gerekliliğini vurgulamaktadır. Bu bulgular, kültürlerarası dil eğitimi, öğretmen bilişi ve Türkiye’de yabancı dil olarak İngilizce bağlamında kültüre duyarlı öğretim materyallerine ilişkin süregelen tartışmalara katkı sağlamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Eleştirel Kültürel Farkındalık
• İngilizce Dil Öğretimi
• İngilizceyi Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğreten Öğretmenler
• öğretmen görüşleri
• Türkiye Bağlamı

Etik Beyan

Giresun Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler, Fen ve Mühendislik Araştırma Etik Kurulu'nun 04.12.2024 tarihli ve 11/25 numaralı kararıyla etik kurul onayı alınmıştır.

Teşekkür

Bu çalışmaya katılan değerli öğretmenlere en içten teşekkürlerimizi sunarız. Yoğun iş yüklerine karşın deneyimlerini, inançlarını ve sınıf içi gerçekliklerini büyük bir açıklık ve samimiyetle bizimle paylaştıkları için kendilerine minnettarız.

Critical Cultural Awareness (CCA) in the EFL Classroom: A Study of Turkish Teachers' Perspectives

Öz

This study investigates Turkish EFL teachers’ perspectives on Critical Cultural Awareness (CCA), a key component of Byram’s Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) model that involves the critical evaluation of cultural perspectives, practices, and products. Specifically, the study explores teachers’ conceptualizations of CCA, their perceptions of its integration into English Language Teaching (ELT) programs, its representation in ELT textbooks and materials, and strategies for fostering CCA in language education. Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, quantitative data were first collected through the Critical Cultural Awareness Questionnaire (CCAQ), administered online to 120 participants using snowball sampling. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 volunteer participants selected from the survey respondents to provide deeper insight into the quantitative findings. The findings indicate that teachers strongly support cultural diversity, cultural equality, and the inclusion of learners’ local cultural identities in ELT. However, their understandings of CCA tend to emphasize intercultural comparison, cultural understanding, and mutual respect rather than the critical examination of representation, power relations, ideology, and inequality that characterize Byram’s notion of critical cultural awareness. Participants also perceived a continued dominance of Western and native-speaker cultural perspectives in ELT programs and globally produced materials, while expressing the need for greater inclusion of local cultural content. In addition, teachers identified authentic materials, professional development opportunities, and international projects as important means of promoting CCA. The study suggests that Turkish EFL teachers demonstrate an emerging but uneven development of critical cultural awareness and highlights the need for teacher education programs and curricula that more explicitly address the critical dimensions of culture, including representation, ideology, and power. These findings contribute to ongoing discussions on intercultural language education, teacher cognition, and culturally responsive ELT materials in the Turkish EFL context.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• critical cultural awareness (CCA)
• English Language Teaching (ELT)
• English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers
• teachers’ perspectives
• Turkish EFL context

Etik Beyan

Ethical committee approval was obtained by Social Sciences, Science and Engineering Research Ethics Committee of Giresun University with the decision dated 04.12.2024 and numbered 11/25.

Teşekkür

We are deeply grateful to the teachers who participated in this study. Despite their demanding schedules, they shared their experiences, beliefs, and classroom realities with remarkable openness and sincerity.

Kaynakça

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