In Pursuit of Queer Inquiry with Turkish EFL Preservice Teachers

Based on queer critical literacies framework, this study describes an intervention that aimed to help preservice teachers identify and deconstruct heteronormative discourse in Turkish social and educational contexts. Through a local documentary that narrates the experiences of a Turkish transgender individual, preservice teachers critique the normal/abnormal binary as conditioned by social practices, power relations, and religion in Turkey. The study further explores the attitudes of preservice teachers towards incorporation of sexuality issues in the English classroom and in English language teaching programs with data from in-class discussions and individual interviews conducted at three Turkish state universities. Certain methodological challenges I encountered during data collection are also presented to hopefully give insights to future researchers interested in exploring sexual diversity issues in similar settings. As for the findings, the study revealed that participants' lived experiences of queer conversations with teacher educators enabled them to successfully identify and deconstruct heteronormative discourses in their programs. Their experiences as trainee teachers additionally showed that queer discussions, considered a taboo in the Turkish society, are inevitable in the English classroom. However, preservice teachers revealed certain reservations about how or whether they would adopt a queer friendly discourse in their future classrooms considering the strict government policies and high levels of religiosity in society. It is thus critical that (preservice) teachers in conservative communities be pedagogically prepared for future encounters of queer discussions to offer a respectful classroom environment for all learners. Queer critical literacies might be a useful framework for teacher educators to increase awareness of teachers about how dominant discourses may reinforce heteronormativity and how teachers could be agents of change by identifying and deconstructing such discourses to create a safe classroom environment for learners of diverse sexual identities.