Get Your Face Out Of Mine”: Culture-Oriented Distance In EFL Context A Helpful Guide for Turkish EFL Teachers
Get Your Face Out Of Mine”: Culture-Oriented Distance In EFL Context A Helpful Guide for Turkish EFL Teachers

Summary/Abstract: This research study aims to find out the experiences of Turkish EFL teachers in the United States regarding the differences between their understanding and use of personal space and that of Americans,’ and to discuss how the issue is closely related to foreign language instruction. The study will center around a brand new term that I have coined, ‘culture-oriented distance,’ as an important part of non-verbal communication. However, in this paper, other forms of non-verbal communication as a general phenomenon will be referred to only briefly. The results will be followed by the implications of culture-oriented distance in foreign language teaching, and specifically Turkish EFL teachers will be presented with many possible ways to incorporate this cultural phenomenon in their language classrooms. Although there will be no attempt to generalize the findings beyond the participants of this study and EFL teaching in Turkey, some results might well be applicable to other contexts.

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