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.

摘要

本研究旨在应用批判性教学法和参与式方法，将南非文化这一被排斥的背景纳入土耳其的外语课程 (EFL) 课程，因为南非背景 (SA) 已被忽略并被排除在课程之外土耳其的全球教科书和 EFL。这项比较教育和文化研究基于描述性的单个案例研究和情境化方式的批判性反思。15 名土耳其大学笔译和口译专业的本科生参与了这项研究。使用包含 10 个问题的开放式问卷来征求他们的意见。这些问题涉及有关社会、政治和语言背景的话题。调查结果表明，参与者几乎没有意识到课程中 SA 语境中这些被排除在外的社会政治问题，并且由于他们的殖民主义历史背景和民族国家意识形态。虽然他们认为南非的社会政治和语言问题可以纳入课程，但由于长期笼罩土耳其的压迫性政治气氛，将土耳其的相同问题纳入 EFL 课程对他们来说似乎不太可能。这项研究可以作为一个例子，因为它可以通过使用批判性教学法，有助于将被排斥​​的文化及其社会政治问题纳入课程。