Analysis of children's literature works on migration and immigration in terms of vocabulary

This study was conducted to examine the vocabulary items and their frequency of use in children's literature works on migration and immigration. Seven works of children's literature determined by expert opinion were examined in detail and the vocabulary items used in the works (proverbs, idioms, terms, relationship words, slang words, and doublings) and the frequency of use of these items were determined. The books were analyzed by descriptive analysis method. Frequency and percentage calculations were made to analyze the data. In the study, "Turkish Vocabulary" was determined as the main category; "proverbs", "idioms", "dilemmas", "terms", "relationship words", "filler words" and "slang words" were considered as sub-categories. The analyzed works were scanned in terms of vocabulary and classified in alphabetical order according to subcategories. For each book, tables indicating the frequency and percentages of the linguistic elements that make up the vocabulary were created. These tables were interpreted in terms of their frequency of use. As a result of this study, a total of 2889 vocabulary items were reached. When we look at the frequency of use of vocabulary items in the analyzed books; it was determined that idioms (948) were used the most, second place was taken by dilemmas (866), third place by terms (694), fourth place by fillers (248), fifth place by relationship words (96), sixth place by slang words (28) and the last place by proverbs (9). Thanks to vocabulary-rich books, children whose mother tongue is Turkish and children whose target language is Turkish improve their language skills and have the opportunity to understand and express Turkish better. When children encounter literary works suitable for them, they tend to identify with them by emulating their heroes. By putting themselves in the shoes of these heroes, they try to visualize events and situations in their imagination. They learn to develop empathy by experiencing the emotions of the characters they identify with. Books teach children that good and bad situations are part of life, that they all belong to the human condition. Realizing that they are not alone makes them feel stronger. In addition to increasing the vocabulary of child readers, these books can help them raise awareness of abstract concepts such as migration and immigration and deepen their understanding of social and cultural issues.