World Englishes in the Turkish sociolinguistic context

Abstract

Part of the Expanding Circle in Kachruvian concentric conceptualization of the Englishes around the globe, English in Turkey has no recognized official status in the State. Nevertheless, English performs an array of functions in different domains in the country in addition to being used as a medium of international communication with the rest of the world. The main argument of the paper is twofold: first, to present certain sociolinguistic characteristics of the country that are shared by former colonies of English-speaking nations, despite the fact that it has never been colonized by English-speaking powers; second, to contemplate upon the particular reasons for the developments in light of sociopolitical and historical movements, as well as the recent repercussions in the nation.

Effective Foreign Language Teaching: Perceptions of Prospective English Language Teachers

“…As for the Turkish context, where English is the commonest of foreign languages taught in educational settings [4][5][6]15,24,32], there have been several substantial studies investigating the EFL students' perceptions of effective foreign language teachers. The results of these studies revealed that students expect their teachers to have a good command of both English and its culture, to have fluency in English, to be friendly, to use visual materials and technology in the classroom, to have good personal characteristics, having personal strategies to teach, creating a positive learning environment and so on [13,14,30].…”

Critical Internationalization: Moving from Theory to Practice

“…Yet the symbolic capital of English extends beyond the confines of universities in English-dominant countries. Many universities around the world are adopting English as the language of instruction and scholarship in order to participate in global knowledge networks such as international conferences and journals, even though participating in these networks often means adopting the norms and values of Englishspeaking university systems (Curry & Lillis, 2010;Hoffmann, 2000;Selvi, 2011). Curry and Lillis (2010) find that publishing in English-medium journals requires conforming to their methodologies and paradigms, which generally reflect Western traditions and values.…”

The role and status of English in Turkish higher education

“…When students choose to attend EMI universities, they either have to document their proficiency by passing an institutional or international test, or attend an intensive English program for a year, at the end of which they have to pass a test to proceed to their regular classes (Büyükkantarcı, 2004;Selvi, 2011). When students choose to attend EMI universities, they either have to document their proficiency by passing an institutional or international test, or attend an intensive English program for a year, at the end of which they have to pass a test to proceed to their regular classes (Büyükkantarcı, 2004;Selvi, 2011).…”

“…While Expanding Circle countries in Asia (e.g. Notable exceptions include Doğançay-Aktuna (1998), Büyükkantarcı (2004), and Selvi (2011), which we summarize below. Coleman, 2006) have been gaining increasing attention in recent years, Expanding Circle countries like Turkey have not been examined to the same degree.…”