Yerel Ve Küresel İngi̇li̇zce Ders Ki̇taplarinda Kültürle Karşilaşma: Öğretmen Adaylarinin Malzeme Uyarlamadaki̇ Seçi̇mleri̇

Abstract

Much of textbook research in ELT concentrates on materials evaluation and analyses of (cultural) content, whereas existing studies on textbook consumption seem preoccupied with in-service teachers' self-reported beliefs and practices. It still remains underexplored how student teachers respond to culturally-inappropriate materials. Especially when they are mandated to follow local coursebooks as in Turkey, teacher mediation of texts becomes critical. Therefore, 58 pre-service English teachers in an urban university were surveyed to elicit their attitudes towards gendered and alienating texts from local and global English coursebooks, and identify their culturally-responsive preferences and rationales for materials adaptation. Their word associations were examined to determine prototypical views of culture. The content analysis revealed that whether local or global, over 50% of the participants preferred to use the texts unchanged or delete them altogether, while chances of fixing the materials dropped steeply in the face of foreign culture influence. The few adapters appreciated their potential for raising gender-and cultural-awareness, and increasing classroom interaction. The overwhelming majority (74%) conceptualised culture as the embodiment of daily activities, current state of being and common way of thinking within a community, and seemed concerned about the appropriacy and comprehensibility of cultural content.