Language teacher candidates’ representation of Türkiye's East and West: A critical discourse analysis of online discussions in a telecollaboration

This study explores data collected from a telecollaboration project between two universities in Türkiye and the US. We draw upon the notion that how language teacher candidates from Türkiye (LTCTs) situate themselves contextually pertain to their professional learning and practices and future language teacher identity. Focusing on their telecollaboration discourse, we specifically examine these LTCTs’ construction of Türkiye's multiculturalism through an oversimplistic and stereotypical East-West binary. We analyzed the data using Fairclough's three-dimensional CDA model. We found that when discussing multiculturalism, the LTCTs socio-politically constructed framing of Türkiye's East and West has been influenced by meso level institutional policies and macro level nation-state ideologies. Next, our findings showed that the LTCTs avoided controversial sociopolitical issues when talking specifically about the East refraining from any connotations of separatist discourses. We suggest teachers educators foster critical analysis within teacher education programs to help understand and prepare teacher candidates for their future practice.