Yabancı Dil/ İkinci Dil Olarak Türkçe Öğretiminde İletişim Dili

Abstract

ÜNVER, Özge. Medium of Instruction in Teaching Turkish as a Foreign/Second Language, Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2020.

For many years, it has been advocated or recommended that teachers use the target language in foreign language / second language teaching classes and stay away from the learners’ mother tongue. Contrary to this view, however, there are also opinions supporting that the use of mother tongue is beneficial and it facilitates foreign language learning. In this study, the medium of instruction in teaching Turkish as a foreign language / second language and use of the target language, the mother tongue of the learners or another medium language were discussed. First of all, the opinions about the medium of instruction in foreign and second language teaching were presented. Afterwards, the data were collected by means of the interview technique on the role of communication language in addition to the target language, learner's language or another medium language in Turkish teaching classes as foreign and second language. The research was participated in a total of 15 teachers who has Turkish teaching experience both in Turkey and in other contexts in which Turkish is not spoken as a mother tongue. As a result of the interviews, it was concluded that the teachers generally preferred to use Turkish, which is the target language, in teaching Turkish both as a foreign language and as a second language. It was expressed that the teachers didn’t use another language apart from the target language especially when teaching Turkish in Turkey, in classes that include students coming from different language origins, as it is not always possible to find a common language all learners know. It was stated that using a language other than the target language made the learners accustomed to facilitation and damaged the communicative competence in the target language. Contrary to these views, it was argued that the use of a common language other than the target language, especially at the beginning level, facilitated teaching, motivated the learners and provided a different relationship between the learner and the teacher. In addition, the view that a teacher who teaches a foreign language must also have the experience of learning a language other than the mother tongue was supported. In the light of the collected data and the current literature, suggestions were made on what medium of instruction should be used in Turkish teaching classes as a foreign language / second language. Key Words Foreign language, teaching Turkish, medium of instuction, target language, mother tongue, common language.