Rapid automatized naming as a predictor of language dominance in bilingual Turkish children

There is not any practical tool that determines dominant language of the Turkish bilingual students living abroad when Turkish teachers and authorities working abroad first encounter with the students or whenever they need the tool. The main purpose of this study is to reveal whether Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN), which is a reliable reading predictor, is an applicable tool in determining the dominant language of bilingual Turkish children living in countries where German and French are official languages. Our research participants are bilingual children of Turks living abroad, 30 of whom are Turkish-German and 20 of whom are Turkish-French, between the ages of 8-10. Our data was collected between 2020-2023. In the research, the the children,'s dominant language was determined in the first stage. Then, RAN performance results were obtained by applying our RAN (object, color and number) tests that we developed specifically within three languages. Our research is a quantitative field research and the correlational research method was used. The participants' RAN performance, which indicates the span that it takes to recall words from memory, was compared and evaluated with the results of the scale determining the dominant language. At the end of the research, based on our findings, suggestions were put forward on the importance of the test we developed for the relevant educational environments.