Yabancı Dil Olarak Türkçenin Anlamlandırılmasında Kelime ve Dil Öğrenme Stratejileri Kullanımı

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify comprehension aspects of learners of Turkish as a foreign language through the vocabulary and language learning strategies they use. In order to determine such relationship, firstly the process of making sense of participant students' use of language in terms of linguistic, grammatical and pragmatic dimensions as well as their demographic information are discussed. In this respect, the cases of choosing vocabulary and language learning strategies of students, who learn Turkish as a foreign language in 10 different universities in Turkey, are examined in details. “Strategies Inventory Language Learning (SILL)” by Oxford (1990) and “Vocabulary Learning Strategies Scale” that was developed on the basis of SILL were used in the study. The collected data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, T-tests, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc tests. Then, open-ended interview forms, prepared by the researcher, were implemented to determine individual strategy preferences. Strategic preferences emerged in quantitative and qualitative open ended interview forms were explained through mixed method comparatively. Results of the study reveal that among the vocabulary, grammar and pragmatic dimensions, students have had the most difficulty in learning vocabulary. It has been found that students use vocabulary learning strategies with medium level of frequency (X>2.5) whereas the use of language learning strategies is above the medium level (X>3.5). Of all the vocabulary learning strategies, affective strategies are the most frequent ones; while metacognitive strategies are the mostly preferred among the language learning strategies. In the study, it has been realized that the female students' general scores of strategy use are higher than the male students. It has also been found that older students are more effective in the use of strategies. It has been observed that students use language learning strategies more frequently than vocabulary learning strategies at all proficiency levels. Considering the results obtained according to the language family of the mother tongue, it has been revealed that the average scores of the students in the other language families are higher than those who come from Turkic languages. It is understood that students who know another foreign language are more successful in using language learning strategies than vocabulary learning strategies while learning Turkish as a target language. In the study, what categories in the vocabulary and language learning strategies in the quantitative data are referred to and what is not mentioned are all analyzed via content analysis on the qualitative scale. Finally, it is evaluated how learning strategies are used by foreign students learning Turkish regarding the situations in which they seem to be linguistically meaningful, and the resolutions are proposed accordingly.