Abstract

Turkey’s political climate has become increasingly tense. A failed military coup in July 2016 compelled president Erdoğan to implement six consecutive ‘states of emergency,’ giving him unprecedented power. Extreme polarization of political ideologies makes political discourse pervasive, even in ESL classrooms in a university language preparatory program that hires international staff from the USA, Canada, and the UK. Students enrolled in this program are often vocal about their discontent with the current direction of the country. Using a critical theory framework, this qualitative study explores whether international teachers, as outsiders, can engage students in a critical inquiry to challenge the status quo. Data collected from in-depth interviews with seven teachers revealed that the language classroom is a complex site of cultural negotiation, one not quite conducive to border crossing, where all but one teacher failed to see themselves as critical pedagogues. The study thus proposes a form of localized critical pedagogy particular to Turkey’s EFL context. This requires teachers’ creation of a counter-culture, or a safe space in the classroom, where students can safely voice their opinions. The discussion delineates implications and conditions required for international teachers in such educational settings to utilize a localized critical pedagogy.