Adaptation of English coursebook activities based on sociocultural theory: an action research

Date

2021-2-8

Author

Kırmızı Ayyıldız, Ayşe

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The use of materials in English lessons is important for facilitating learning. However, centralized materials may not be suitable for every student’ profile, needs and backgrounds. Teachers working in rural areas can experience difficulties if central materials do not meet student needs and expectations. In this case, it might be necessary to adapt the course materials in accordance with students’ needs. This action research study aims to figure out rural students’ perceptions about the cultural content of English coursebook, and to decrease the discrepancy between the cultural background required in the English textbook and the sociocultural background of the students in a rural area by adapting the coursebook activities. The researcher also aimed to understand students’ and the teacher’s perceptions about the efficiency of the adapted materials. The study was conducted in a rural school in the Southeast part of Turkey. The required data were collected through semi-structured teacher interviews, semi-structured student interviews, teacher memos, class discussion teacher reflections, openended student questionnaires. The results revealed that regional challenges negatively affect students’ learning process, due to some sociocultural and socioeconomic deprivations and students are unfamiliar to many cultural concepts in coursebook activities. The students’ and the teacher researcher’s data indicated that adapting the activities in accordance with students’ needs and profile, regional conditions and use of authentic materials and realia can promote internalization of language input and meaningful learning.

Subject Keywords

Material Adaptation, Rural Education, English Language Teaching

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/88684

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis