Cultural and Sociocultural Elements of Language Learning for the Turkish Learners of English in Two Different Universities

Burak Tomak

doi:10.26466/opusjsr.1062860

EN

Cultural and Sociocultural Elements of Language Learning for the Turkish Learners of English in Two Different Universities

Abstract

Culture is one part of the language learning process and it has been defined and categorized by several scholars. With the advent of social constructivism in education, the sociocultural learning theory has come to the foreground. Therefore, these two important concepts have affected the language teaching pedagogy. Thus, this study aimed at determining the cultural and sociocultural elements that were focused in language classes in two different universities in Turkey. Hence, for the purpose of this study, five students from a state university in Istanbul and five students from another state university in Eskisehir were interviewed to find out whether these elements were covered in the language classes of the School of Foreign Languages in these two different university contexts. Additionally, some other contextual factors that affected these learners’ sociocultural learning process were also questioned. The results showed that some aspects of culture were more stressed in language classes whereas some of them were neglected. Participants also stated that they benefitted a lot from the elements of sociocultural learning theory especially in terms of “scaffolding” as they cooperated with their peers whose level of language proficiency was higher than themselves to improve their language skills, especially writing and grammar.

Keywords

Culture , Sociocultural Learning , Scaffolding , Language Development , English Language Learning

Kaynakça

Adaskou, K., Britten, D., & Fahsi, B. (1990). Design decisions on cultural content of a secondary course for Morocco. ELT Journal, 44(1), 3-10.
Aidinlou, N. A., & Kejal, D. A. (2012). Socio-cultural factors and teaching a foreign language. International Journal of Social Science and Education, 2(2), 139-143.
Atkinson, D. (1987). The mother tongue in the classroom. ELT Journal, 41(4), 241-247.
Bates, D. G., & Plog, F. (1991). Human adaptive strategies. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Bonilla, S. X., & Cruz-Arcila, F. (2014). Sociocultural factors involved in the teaching of English as foreign language in rural areas of Colombia: an analysis of the impact on teachers’ professional development. Profile: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 3(2), 28-33.
Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. (5th Edition). New York: Pearson.
Byram, M. (1997). The intercultural dimension in “language learning for European citizenship.” In M. Byram & G. Zarate (Eds.), The sociocultural and intercultural dimension of language learning and teaching (p.17–20). Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe Publishing.
Byrd, D. R., Hlas, A. C., Watzke, J., & Valencia, M. F. M. (2011). An examination of culture knowledge: A Study of L2 teachers’ and teacher educators’ beliefs and practices. Foreign Language Annals, 49(1), 4-39.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1-47.
Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2007). Research Methods in Education (6th edition). London: Routledge.

Cook, V. (2008). Second language learning and language teaching (4th, ed.). London: Hodder Education.
Cullen, R., Kullman, J., & Wild, C. (2013). Online collaborative learning on an ESL teacher education programme. ELT Journal, 67(4), 425-434.
Darmuki, A., Andayani, Nurkamto, J., & Saddhono, K. (2018). The development and evaluation of speaking learning model by cooperative approach. International Journal of Instruction, 11(2), 115-128.
Dickey, M. D. (2004). The impact of Web-logs (Blogs) on student perceptions of isolation and alienation in a web-based distance-learning environment. Open Learning, 19(3), 279-291.
Ducan, H. E., & Barnett, J. (2009). Learning to teach online: What works for pre-service teachers. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 40(3), 357-376.
Edstrom, A. (2006). L1 use in the L2 classroom: One teacher’s self-evaluation. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(2), 275-292.
Eun, B., & Lim, H-S. (2009). A sociocultural view of language learning: The importance of meaning-based instruction. TESL Canada Journal, 27(1), 13-26.
Fahim, M., & Haghani, M. (2012). Social perspectives on foreign language learning. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3(4), 693-699.
Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2003). Educational research. Boston: Pearson.
Genesee, F. (1994). Integrating language and content: Lessons from immersion. Educational Practice Report 11. National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning.
Hitchcock, G., & Hughes, D. (1995). Research and the Teacher (second edition). London: Routledge.
Kaufman, D. (2004). Constructivist issues in language learning and teaching. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 303-319.
Kim Anh, K. H. (2010). Use of Vietnamese in English language teaching in Vietnam: Attitudes of Vietnamese university teachers. EFL Journal, 3(2), 119-128.
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krippendorp, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lantolf, J. P., & S.L. Thorne. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford: OUP.
Lee, M. S. (2015). Implementing the sociocultural theory while teaching ESL. Student Perspectives About Civic Engagement, 1(1), 28-35. Li, Z. (2011). Learners’ reflexivity and the development of an e-learning community among students in China. Research in Learning Technology, 19(1), 5-17.
McLaughlin, M.W. (1994). Strategic sites for teachers’ professional development. In P.P. Grimmett & J. Neufeld (Eds.), Teacher development and the struggle for authenticity: Professional growth and restructuring in the context of change (p.31-51). New York: Teachers College Press.
Nault, D. (2006). Going global: Rethinking culture teaching in ELT contexts. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 19(3), 314-328.
Nunan, D. (1992). Sociocultural aspects of second language acquisition. Cross Currents, 19(1), 16-24.
Özfidan, B., Machtmes, K. L., & Demir, H. (2014). Sociocultural factors in second language learning: A case study of adventurous adult language learners. European Journal of Educational Research, 3(4), 185-191.
Pazyura, N. (2016). Influence of sociocultural context on language learning in foreign countries. Comparative Professional Pedagogy, 6(2), 14-19. doi:10.1515/rpp-2016-0012.
Rideout, G., Bruinsma, R., Hull, J., Modayil, J. & Modayil, J. (2008). Online learning management systems (LMS) and sense of community: A pre-service practicum perspective. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie, 33(3), Canadian Network for Innovation in Education. Retrieved December 1, 2020 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/42932/.
Spivey, N. (1997). The constructivist metaphor: Reading, writing, and the making of meaning. San Diego: Academic Press. Schweers, W. Jr. (1999). Using L1 in the L2 classroom. English teaching forum, 37(2), 6 -7.
Sun, Ch. (2015). The cultivation of cross-cultural communication competence in oral English teaching practice. English Language Teaching, 8(12), 7-9. doi: 10.5539/elt.v8n12p7.
Usman, B., Champion, I., Muslem, A., & Samad, I. A. (2018). Progressive peer evaluation: Important but absent in EFL speaking classes. Studies in English Language and Education, 5(2), 308-327.
van Compernolle, R. A., & Williams, L. (2013). Sociocultural theory and second language pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 17(3), 277-281. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168813482933.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In R. Rieber & A. Carton (Eds.), The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky (N. Minick, Trans.) (vol. 1, p.39-285). New York: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1997). Educational psychology. Boca Raton, FL: St. Lucie Press.
Wasser, J. D. & Bresler, L. (1996). Working in the interpretive zone: Conceptualized Collaboration in qualitative research teams. Educational Researcher, 25(5), 5-15.
Wright, M. (1996). The cultural aims of modern language teaching: Why are they not being met? Language Learning Journal, 13, 36-37.
Yeh, Y. (2010). Integrating collaborative PBL with blended learning to explore preservice teachers’ development of online learning communities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 1630-1640.
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed). Los Angeles: Sage.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

-

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yazarlar

Burak Tomak ^* Bu kişi benim
0000-0001-6678-431X
Türkiye

Yayımlanma Tarihi

30 Ocak 2022

Gönderilme Tarihi

25 Mart 2021

Kabul Tarihi

19 Kasım 2021

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2022 Cilt: 19 Sayı: 45

DOI

https://doi.org/10.26466/opusjsr.1062860

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA83GL68GC

APA

Tomak, B. (2022). Cultural and Sociocultural Elements of Language Learning for the Turkish Learners of English in Two Different Universities. OPUS Journal of Society Research, 19(45), 116-128. https://doi.org/10.26466/opusjsr.1062860

Cultural and Sociocultural Elements of Language Learning for the Turkish Learners of English in Two Different Universities

Abstract

Keywords

Öz

Kaynakça

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

Konular

Bölüm

Yazarlar

Yayımlanma Tarihi

Gönderilme Tarihi

Kabul Tarihi

Yayımlandığı Sayı

DOI

IZ

Kaynak Göster