The Inclusion of the Excluded Sociopolitical and Linguistic Issues into EFL Curriculum in Turkey: A Critical Pedagogical Perspective

Abstract

This study aims to apply critical pedagogy and a participatory approach by including an excluded context, the South African culture, into the curriculum of foreign language classes (EFL) in Turkey because the South African context (SA) has been ignored and excluded from the curriculum of global textbooks and EFL in Turkey. This comparative educational and cultural study is based on a descriptive single case study and critical reflection in a contextualized manner. 15 undergraduates majoring in translation and interpreting in a Turkish university were involved in the study. An open-ended questionnaire of 10 questions was used to elicit their views. The questions involved topics regarding social, political and linguistic contexts. The findings show that the participants were hardly aware of these excluded socio-political issues in the SA context in the curriculum and developed a pessimistic perspective toward the solution of some socio-political and linguistic problems in both contexts because of their historical background with colonialism and nation-state ideology. While they believed that the sociopolitical and linguistic issues in SA could be included into the curriculum, the inclusion of the same issues in Turkey into the EFL curriculum seemed unlikely for them because of the oppressive political atmosphere that has engulfed Turkey for a long time. This study can be used as an example in that it can contribute to the inclusion of the excluded cultures with their socio-political issues into the curriculum by using critical pedagogy.

Keywords:

• Critical pedagogy
• foreign language
• South African context
• dialectic
• dialogue
• praxis