TEACHING CULTURE IN EFL CONTEXT: STUDENT TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

Learning a language requires the ability of using not only vocabulary and structures accurately and fluently but also it includes the appropriate use of language within cultural context (Byram 1997). This study aimed to investigate student teachers’ (STs’) perspectives of culture and teaching of cultural features in EFL context and their preference of cultural elements. The informants were 134 third year STs studying in an ELT department. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire. The analysis of the elicited data provided a list of two broad dimensions of culture: global and country specific cultural themes, based on which a two-part questionnaire was designed. While the first part questioned STs’ preferences of ‘visible and invisible culture’ (Hinkel 2014), the second contained ‘visible and invisible’ cultural elements which were put in the order of importance. Statistical results showed that the majority believed that they should teach culture explicitly and stated that they should not ignore cultural features in coursebooks. However, only 30% STs said that they would plan their lesson based solely on cultural themes. Moreover, while STs chose the UK/US life style as the most important element (42.5%) and speech acts (34.3%), they preferred elements of global culture (90.9%). The results indicate that STs need to have their awareness raised on this issue.

YABANCI DİL OLARAK İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETİMİNDE KÜLTÜR: ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ PERSPEKTİFİ

Bir dil öğrenmek sadece kelime ve yapıları hatasız ve akıcı bir şekilde kullanma becerisini gerektirmez bir de kültürel bağlam içinde dili uygun olarak kullanma becerisini de içerir (Byram 1997). Bu çalışmanın amacı öğretmen adaylarının İngilizcenin yabancı dil olarak öğretimi bağlamında kültür ve kültürel öğelerin öğretimi hakkında geliştirdikleri bakış açılarını ve bu tür bir eğitime dahil etmek istedikleri kültürel öğelerin neler olduğunu araştırmaktır. Çalışmada kullanılan very bir anket aracılığı ile toplanmıştır. Elde edilen verinin analizi sonucu kültür kavramının iki geniş kapsamlı boyutu ortaya çıkmıştır: küresel ve belli ülkelere özel kültürel öğeler. Bu bulgular temel alınarak 2 bölümlü bir anket yaratıldı. İlk bölümünde öğretmen adaylarının ‘görünen ve görünmeyen’ kültür öğeleri tercihlerini sorgulanırken, ikinci bölüm önem sırasına konulacak ‘görünen ve görünmeyen kültür’ öğelerini içermekteydi. İstatistiki sonuçlar adayların kültürü doğrudan öğretmeleri ve ders kitaplarında bulunan kültürel öğeleri ihmal etmemeleri gerektiğine inandıklarını göstermektedir. Fakat sadece % 30 u sadece kültürel temaları temel alarak ders planı yapacağını söyledi. Dahası, öğrencilerin %42.5 UK/US yaşam biçimini en önemli öğe ve%34.3 ü konuşma eylemlerinin (speech acts) en önemli öğeler olarak seçerken, %90.0 gibi bir çoğunluk küresel kültür öğelerini tercih etmiştir. Sonuçlar öğretmen adaylarının bu konudaki bilinçlilik düzeyinin yükseltilmesi gerektiğini göstermiştir.

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