How Do WE Address the Instructors in the Expanding Circle? Perspectives from Turkish EFL Speakers


Uyar A. C., Yaman İ.

Dilbilim Araştırmaları Dergisi, cilt.35, sa.1, ss.115-132, 2024 (Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 35 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.18492/dad.1372683
  • Dergi Adı: Dilbilim Araştırmaları Dergisi
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Linguistic Bibliography, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Directory of Open Access Journals, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.115-132
  • Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper explores the linguistic forms preferred by Turkish speakers of English to address instructors in academic settings. Far from the norm-referenced approach which focuses on labeling non-native-like practices as failures, this study casts light on the underlying mechanisms of the identified address preferences from a variationist point of view. To this end, 140 Turkish speakers of English as a foreign language reported the address forms they preferred on a discourse completion task. Next, ten participants were semi-structurally interviewed to reveal the motives behind their preferences. The results yielded that Turkish language and culture were mirrored on L2 English address practices through code-switching and translating. Along with the finding that the participants repudiated the address norms of the Inner Circle varieties of English, it was discussed that this can be a sign of a developing system of addressing in Turkish English as a variety in the Expanding Circle.