Özet:

This paper focuses on the opinions of prospective teachers’ related to argument culture in the classroom environment. The data stems from a phenomenological study including 12 prospective teachers attending the education faculty of a Turkish state university for the 2013-2014 academic year. Data collected from focus group interviews were thematically analyzed. Findings indicated that prospective teachers were aware of the pedagogical value of the argument culture. Argument culture was mostly associated with democratic environment, effective listening, and critical thinking skills, respect and tolerance. Nevertheless, prospective teachers did not characterize their classroom environment as open to argument. These perceptions stem from being silenced, suppressed or negatively criticized when opposing thoughts were presented. Results revealed that political, philosophical and sexual topics were avoided in classroom settings. Additionally, valued people and evolution are among the most avoided subjects. Students’ prejudices and taboos related to specific subjects were found to be barriers to the argument culture. Teacher training programs and social culture were seen to be the other factors negatively affecting argument culture. Overall, argument culture in the classroom environment seems to be problematic in several ways. Especially, the question of how to build an argument culture is worth thinking about.

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