EXPLORING ELT STUDENT TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT ICC: INSIGHTS FROM TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN TURKEY

Teacher beliefs about how cultural variables should be taught in English courses are of great importance specifically in countries where English is not spoken beyond educational contexts. To find out whether English teachers are prepared effectively in teacher education programs, this study aims at evaluating the beliefs of student teachers about intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in Turkey. To this end, Beliefs about ICC Inventory was developed as the main data collection tool. The quantitative data obtained from the inventory were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A total of 430 ELT student teachers across Turkish state universities participated in this study. The quantitative analyses revealed that most of the participants perceived themselves as the most competent in “ICC attitudes” and “ICC awareness” dimensions. Results also indicated that male student teachers held stronger beliefs about ICC skills and awareness than female participants; however, such differences were not observed in the other dimensions of ICC.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Intercultural Communicative Competence, Teachers’ Beliefs, Students’ Beliefs, Pre-service Teacher Education, English Language

EXPLORING ELT STUDENT TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT ICC: INSIGHTS FROM TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN TURKEY

Keywords:

Intercultural Communicative Competence, Teachers’ Beliefs, Students’ Beliefs, Pre-service Teacher Education, English Language,

PDF

___

1. Alptekin, C. (2002). Towards intercultural communicative competence in ELT, ELT Journal 56 (1), pp. 57–64. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/56.1.57
2. Brown, H.D. (1994). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching: Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall Regents. P. 347.
3. Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural competence. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. P. 124.
4. Corbett, J. (2003). An intercultural approach to English language teaching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. P.240.
5. Kramsch, C. J. (1998). Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 134.
6. Phillips, J. K. (2003). National standards for foreign language learning. In D. L.Lange & R. M. Paige (Eds.), Culture as the core: Perspectives on culture in second language learning (pp. 161–171). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
7. Young, T. J., & Sachdev, I. (2011). Intercultural communicative competence: Exploring English language teachers’ beliefs and practices. Language awareness, 20(2), pp. 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2010.540328
8. Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teacher think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(2), pp. 81–109.
9. Kagan, D. (1992). Implications of research on teacher belief. Educational Psychologist, 27(1), pp.65-90. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep2701_6
10. Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 63(3), pp. 307–332.
11. Richards, J. C & Gallo, P. B. & Renandya, W. A. (2001). Exploring teachers’ beliefs and the process of change. PAC, 1(1), pp.41-64. URL: http://professorjackrichards.com/work.htm
12. Sercu, L. (2004). Assessing intercultural competence: A framework for systematic test development in foreign language education and beyond. Intercultural Education, 15(1) pp.73–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/1467598042000190004
13. Horwitz, E. K. (1988). The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. The modern language journal, 72(3), pp. 283–294.
14. Zheng, H. (2009). A review of research on EFL pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices. Journal of Cambridge Studies, 4(1,) pp.73- 81. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.1579
15. Sercu, L. (2006). The foreign language and intercultural competence teacher: the acquisition of a new professional identity. Intercultural Education, 17(1), pp. 55–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675980500502321
16. Altan, M. Z. (2012). Pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs about foreign language learning. European Journal of Teacher Education, 35(4), pp. 481–493. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2011.643399
17. Borg, S. (2006). The distinctive characteristics of foreign language teachers. Language teaching research, 10(1), pp. 3–31.
18. Duisembekova, Z., & Özmen, K. S. (2020). Analyzing Language Learning Beliefs of English Student Teachers: A Cross-Cultural Study Across Turkic Republics. Bilig, (94), pp.51-73. https://doi.org/10.12995/bilig.9403
19. Özmen, K. S. (2012). Exploring student teachers’ beliefs about language learning and teaching: A longitudinal study. Current Issues in Education, 15(1), pp. 1–16.
20. Peacock, M. (2001). Pre-service ESL teachers' beliefs about second language learning: A longitudinal study. System, 29(2), pp.177-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(01)00010-0
21. Richardson, V. (2003). Preservice teachers’ beliefs. Teacher beliefs and classroom performance: The impact of teacher education, 6, pp.1–22.
22. Feiman-Nemser, S., & Remillard, J. (1996). Perspectives on learning to teach. In F. Murray (Ed.), The teacher educator's handbook: Building a knowledge base for the preparation of teachers. P. 43.