Teaching culture through EFL classes in Turkey: a qualitative study of teachers’ conceptualizations and pedagogical orientations

ABSTRACT

Reconsideration of culture pedagogy, in terms of what culture refers to and whose culture dominates English language teaching is a prevalent issue in language teaching. Therefore, in this study, we conducted one-on-one interviews with 17 in-service teachers of English language at three private K-12 schools in a northwestern city of Turkey to examine their conceptualizations of culture and pedagogical orientations towards teaching culture. We analysed the data by using Jackson’s seven facets of culture and Larzén-Östermark’s classification of teachers’ three orientations towards teaching culture. Our findings revealed “culture as learned” as the dominant facet and “cognitive orientation” as the dominant orientation towards teaching culture. However, when teaching culture in a private school, the teachers seemed to experience tensions between the goal of authenticity and the scripted curriculum from the selected textbooks. Few teachers reported parental pressure and resistance regarding the teaching of English culture. Our findings suggest implications for EFL teacher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Culture pedagogy
• English as a foreign language (EFL)
• in-service teachers of English
• orientations towards teaching culture
• private school context

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Handan Çelik

Handan Çelik is an assistant professor at Trabzon University, Fatih Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Languages Teaching, English Language Teaching Division. She currently teaches at undergraduate level. Her research interests include pre- and in-service English language teachers’ education, English for Specific Purposes, and teaching and researching language learning and teaching.

Bedrettin Yazan

Bedrettin Yazan is an associate professor at the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at University of Texas at San Antonio. His research focuses on language teacher learning and identity, language policy and planning, and World Englishes. He has published in multiple international journals and edited books. He has also co-edited applied linguistics books with several international publication companies. He has presented his research in several national and international conferences.