Language maintenance and cultural identity construction in a Turkish Saturday school in New York Cit...

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Language maintenance and cultural identity construction in a Turkish Saturday school in New York City "
Gulizar Bahar Otcu O. Garcia

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	53607
Doc. No	:	TL23561
Call number	:	‭3368361‬
Main Entry	:	Gulizar Bahar Otcu
Title & Author	:	Language maintenance and cultural identity construction in a Turkish Saturday school in New York City\ Gulizar Bahar Otcu
College	:	Teachers College, Columbia University
Date	:	2009
Degree	:	Ed.D.
student score	:	2009
Page No	:	334-n/a
Abstract	:	Public schools rarely teach the languages spoken in New York City. Thus, many ethnolinguistic communities have to rely on ethnic mother tongue schools. Research on these schools is limited despite their importance in shaping the identities of children from different ethnic backgrounds, and the large number of students attending. The purpose of this ethnographic case study was to research the maintenance and development of Turkish language and construction of Turkish identity in a Turkish Saturday school attended by Turkish children. The study explores the school administrators' and the teachers' beliefs and practices in the school, how students respond to this education, and the parents' role. The data are analyzed following Gee's Discourse analysis framework. The findings show that the Turkish language is the primary means to construct a Turkish cultural identity in the U.S. And yet, there is a gap between the first-generation adults' and the second-generation students' language and cultural beliefs and practices, and also between educators and students. While the educators emphasize Turkish as the school language, and teach as they did in Turkey via teacher-oriented pedagogies, students contest and resist the exclusive use of Turkish and the authoritative teaching style. But educators and students also adapt to each other. Teachers sometimes code-switch to English for educational purposes, and students choose Turkish to speak to adults. At home, parents believe in the necessity to continue Turkish ways of being. Five overarching goals of the Turkish school emerged: (1) connection building: the school as a bridge to Turkish heritage, (2) collectivity building: bringing together the Turkish speech community, (3) contentment building: the school as a venue for the adults to feel moral satisfaction, (4) identity building: building a Turkish-American identity in the U.S., and (5) diversity indicating: enabling the school clientele to see themselves as one of many other ethnolinguistic groups in the United States.
Subject	:	Social sciences; Education; Language, literature and linguistics; Language maintenance; Discourse analysis; Heritage language instruction; Bilingual education; Identity construction; Ethnic mother tongue schools; Turkish; New York City; Linguistics; Cultural anthropology; Cultural identity; Social identity; New York City New York; Turkey; 0326:Cultural anthropology; 0290:Linguistics; 0282:Bilingual education
Added Entry	:	O. Garcia
Added Entry	:	Teachers College, Columbia University