Ortaokulda İngilizce dil derslerinde paydaşların kültürlerarası farkındalıkları: Gaziantep ili İslahiye ilçesindeki 8. sınıf öğrencileri, öğretmenleri ve velileri örneği

The present study aims to identify the intercultural elements in the textbook "Mastermind" which has been used in English lessons through 2018-2019 academic year by the 8th-grade students in state schools in Turkey. The book has been designed in accordance with the curriculum which is developed by the Ministry of National Education and has been prepared taking into consideration the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages standards. The book includes 10 units and activities which are concerning four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) and these activities have been analyzed through a checklist that center upon the cultural content of the books. Besides, 35 students who used the book "Mastermind", their parents(N=35) and their teachers(N=6) in İslahiye, Gaziantep were interviewed to evaluate their perceptions of the cultural elements in the textbook and their intercultural awareness and also to relate these findings to the textbook analysis. These semi-structured interviews were transcribed and the data obtained from the interviews were analyzed through content analysis. The findings indicated that the coursebook mainly included culture-free elements and the number of activities that included intercultural elements was very low. The stakeholders' beliefs related to the coursebook, the intercultural content included in the book, their intercultural awareness and their perceptions of Turkish culture and different cultures were presented in the current study in detail. This study may be useful for book writers, curriculum designers and MoNE policymakers to develop coursebooks which are sufficient enough to provide intercultural elements for the foreign language learners and may also provide some suggestions and implications on how to promote intercultural awareness of the stakeholders in the state schools in Turkey.