Hizmet içi İngilizce öğretmenlerinin kültürlerarası öz-yeterlik inançları ve deneyimleri üzerine eleştirel bir araştırma

Öz

Bu makale, İstanbul’daki İngilizce hazırlık okullarında çalışan, sosyal ve dilsel olarak farklı geçmişlere sahip üniversite İngilizce öğretmenlerinin kültürlerarası öz-yeterlik inançlarını ve deneyimlerini incelemektedir. Eleştirel yorumlayıcı bir kuramsal çerçeve altında karma yöntemli bir vaka çalışması tasarımını benimseyen çalışma, kültürlerarası öz-yeterlik inançları ve deneyimleri ölçeği aracılığıyla ve Türk, Batı ve Orta Doğu kökenli kültürlerarası tecrübeli katılımcılarla yapılan görüşmeler yoluyla toplanan hem nicel hem de nitel verileri içermektedir. Betimsel istatistiksel ve tematik çözümlemeler öğretmenlerin daha çok işyerlerinde kültürlerarası deneyimler yaşadıklarını ve zaman kısıtlaması nedeniyle uygulamada kültürlerarası dil öğretimine ilişkin endişe duymalarına rağmen sınıfta çeşitliliğe karşı olumlu tutumlar geliştirdiklerini ortaya koymuştur. Öğretmenler kültürlerarası yeterliliğe sahip olmanın bir parçası olarak görülebilecek bazı özellikleri vurguladılar: saygılı ve çeşitli insanlarla iletişim kurmaya istekli olmak, çeşitliliği kabul etmek, farklı ve bilinmeyeni tartışmak ve mizah sergilemek. Kültürlerarası deneyimlerle ilgili açıklamaları, en sık atıfta bulunulanı 'bireycilik' ve 'toplumculuk' olan çeşitli söylemlerden etkilenen karmaşık, katmanlı ve iç içe geçen bir kültür görüşünün göstergesiydi. Çalışmanın ışığında, yerel uygulamaların ve söylemlerin ulusal ya da uluslararası olanlardan daha fazla etkiye sahip olabileceği sınıflarda, anahtar oyunculardan biri olarak dil öğretmenlerinin gözünden, ‘tekmerkezci olmayan’ kültürel konulara ilişkin çıkarımlar ve yeni içgörüler sunuyoruz.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• kültür
• kimlik
• söylem
• kültürlerarası çalışmalar
• hizmet içi İngilizce öğretmenleri

A critical inquiry into in-service EFL teachers’ intercultural self-efficacy beliefs and experiences

Abstract

This paper examines the intercultural self-efficacy beliefs and experiences of university EFL teachers from socially and linguistically diverse backgrounds working at English language preparatory schools in İstanbul. Adopting a mixed-methods case study design under a critical interpretivist theoretical framework, the study included both quantitative and qualitative data collected through an intercultural self-efficacy beliefs and experiences scale and via interviews with interculturally experienced participants from Turkish, Western and Middle Eastern backgrounds. Descriptive statistical and thematic analyses revealed that the teachers had intercultural experiences mostly in their workplaces and that they developed positive attitudes toward diversity in the classroom though they were concerned about intercultural language teaching in practice due to the time constraint. The teachers highlighted some of the features that could be regarded as a part of having intercultural competence: being respectful and willing to communicate with diverse people, accepting diversity, discussing the different and unknown, and displaying humour. Their accounts of intercultural experiences were indicative of a complex, layered and overlapping view of culture influenced by several discourses, the most frequently referred ones of which were ‘individualism’ and ‘collectivism’. In the light of the study, we offer implications and new insights into ‘non-monocentric’ cultural threads through the eyes of language teachers as one of the key actors in classrooms, where local praxes and discourses may have more impact than national or international ones.

Keywords

• Culture
• identity
• discourse
• intercultural studies
• in-service EFL teachers

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