Effect of alphabet differences in Turkish education to foreigners

The purpose of this research is to determine the alphabet differences' effect in Turkish education to the foreigners for the foreign national students coming to Turkey from different countries and learning Turkish, reveal the extent of alphabet-related problems encountered by these individuals while learning Turkish and give suggestions intended to the solution of these problems. This study which aims at determining the alphabet differences' effect to Turkish education was organized according to the qualitative research method, and observation, interview and document reviews were used among the qualitative data collection techniques. The research's study group is constituted by the foreign national 159 students studying in the Turkish Education Centers of 7 different universities and 36 instructors working in the Turkish education field to the foreigners in 5 different universities in Turkey. The research's data is collected through the semi-structured interview forms applied to the students and instructors taking part in the study group, texts determined by considering the students' levels and having written to the students with the dictation method, and observations made by the researcher within the study scope. The content analysis was used in the analysis of collected data. 55.77% using the Arabic alphabet, 71.43% using the Cyrillic alphabet and 22.58% using the Latin alphabet among the foreign national students taking part in the study group think that the alphabet differences pose a problem in their Turkish learning according to the results obtained within the study scope. However, 91.67% of the instructors taking part in the study group think that the alphabet differences have an effect on the Turkish education to the foreigners. The alphabet differences related problems encountered by the foreign national students during the Turkish learning process show a difference according to the students' native language and alphabet used in their native language. While the students using the Cyrillic alphabet encounter difficulty in the consonants' pronunciation, the students using the Arabic and Latin alphabets have trouble in the vowels'' pronunciation taking part in the Turkish alphabet. While those using the Arabic and Latin alphabets encounter difficulty in the vowels' writing, those using the Cyrillic alphabet have trouble in the consonants' writing for the letters taking part in the Turkish alphabet. Keywords Turkish, Turkish Education to Foreigner, Alphabet, Effect of Alphabet Differences.