Preservice Teachers’ Discursive Constructions of Cultural Practices in a Multicultural Telecollaboration

Authors

Keywords:

telecollaboration, social justice, preservice teachers, positioning, discursive construction

Abstract

The study reports on a telecollaboration exchange between two teacher education classes in the United States and Turkey. In synchronous and asynchronous conversations, preservice teachers (PTs) engaged in social justice issues and made discourse choices that captured culture(s) and communities as diverse or essentialized. These choices were affected by PTs’ positionings and impacted how PTs connected to individuals only and/or to broader society.  PTs asked questions that created space for critical discussions and facilitated awareness of diversity, yet sometimes led to overgeneralizations. The study has implications for designing telecollaborations that promote language and practices to unpack the issues of social justice.

Author Biography

Baburhan Uzum, Sam Houston State University

Baburhan Uzum, PhD is an assistant professor in the school of teaching and learning at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX, USA.

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Published

2019-03-04

How to Cite

Uzum, B., Yazan, B., Avineri, N., & Akayoglu, S. (2019). Preservice Teachers’ Discursive Constructions of Cultural Practices in a Multicultural Telecollaboration. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 21(1), 82–104.