Cultural values and their education in elementary fourth grade Turkish course: A case study

In 21. century, the corruption in the value system of individuals and societies has led to more importance attached to values education. In this regard, many studies have been conducted that emphasized the importance of values education. Values education informally starts in family, and formally continues at schools. Values education is conducted at schools through hidden curriculum as well as instructional curriculum. In this respect, the Turkish course that has an important role in developing language skills is among the courses that come to forth in values education. In addition to language development, the Turkish course also enables individuals' communication, socialization and cultural interaction. In this way, they both develop their language skills and learn the culture, values and characteristics of the society through the texts included in the Turkish curriculum. From this perspective, the Turkish course has an important function in teaching cultural values in particular. The aim of this study is to reveal how the values education is conducted in the elementary fourth grade Turkish course. The participants of the study that adopted case study design, a qualitative research approach, were the elementary teacher and students of a fourth grade class at an elementary school in the city of Malatya in the spring semester of 2013-2014 school year. The data of the study consisted of classroom observations, semi-structured interviews conducted with the teacher and students, and the documents including the field notes taken by the researcher during observation process, the elementary fourth grade Turkish coursebook, workbook and supplementary grammar book, and the photographs taken in the observation process. The observation data were collected through video recording while the semi-structured interview data were gathered via audio recording. The data obtained in the study were analysed using content analysis. The documents were used to support the research data. The results revealed based on the research findings in accordance with the data obtained in the study are listed as follows: • With respect to the cultural values included in the elementary fourth grade Turkish course, six themes including Language, History, Religion, Traditions, Arts, Symbols of Independence, and Cities were revealed. In this scope, various sub-themes were formed under these themes being one of the values included in the elementary fourth grade Turkish course: * The sub-themes under the theme "Language" were Words, Proverbs, Idioms, Formulaic Expressions, Sayings, Anecdotes. * The sub-themes under the theme "History" were Historical Events, Historical Figures, Historical Artefacts, National Festivals and Sports. * The sub-themes under the theme "Religion" were Belief in Allah, Belief in the Prophet, Religious Festivals, and Circumcision. * The sub-themes under the theme "Traditions" were Nowruz, Bread, Weddings, Soldier Send-off, and National Mourning. * The sub-themes under the theme "Arts" were Sculptures, Folk Songs, Folk Dances, and Literary Works/Writers/Poets. * The sub-themes under the theme "Cities" were Major Cities, and Symbols of the Cities. * The sub-themes under the theme "Symbols of Independence" were Flag, Homeland, and National Anthem. • With respect to the activities towards cultural values education in the elementary fourth grade Turkish course, five themes including Listening, Speaking, Writing, Reading and Visual Reading-Visual Presentation Areas emerged. In this scope, various sub-themes were formed under the themes related to teaching cultural values in the elementary fourth grade Turkish course: * The sub-themes related to the activities in the theme "Listening Area" were Telling sample stories-cases, Teacher giving examples from his/her own life, and Traditional teaching. * The sub-themes under the theme "Speaking Area" were Talking about visuals, Question-answer and Giving examples from students' lives. * The sub-themes under the theme "Reading Area" were Reading texts, Reading books, Using Dictionary, and Using spelling book. * The sub-themes under the theme "Writing Area" were Writing letter, Writing poem, and Workbook writing activities. * The sub-themes under the theme "Visual Reading-Visual Presentation Area were Improvization, Play, Using maps, Preparing boards, and Preparation for a festival. • With regard to the cultural values education within the elementary fourth grade Turkish course, the teacher was observed to use the approaches of suggestion and value clarification. • The evaluation in the cultural values education within the elementary fourth grade Turkish course was observed to be usually done through observations. In this regard, the teacher listened to the students' explanations on the topic using the question-answer method, and had the opportunity to evaluate the students in in-class activities. • Based on the views of the teacher and students towards cultural values education in the elementary fourth grade Turkish course, the themes of cultural values, the importance of cultural values and the importance of cultural values in the Turkish course were revealed. In this scope, the findings from the views of the teacher and students on teaching cultural values in the elementary fourth grade Turkish course are as follows: * The teacher and students mostly emphasized the historical aspect of cultural values related to the concept of cultural values. * The teacher pointed out that cultural values were necessary for individuals' adaptation to the society they live in, and stated that cultural values taught students their history and reflected the characteristics of the society. * The teacher also emphasized the importance of language in conveying culture with regard to the importance of cultural values in the Turkish course, and asserted that the Turkish course was of significance in this respect. * The students underlined the cultural values they gained in the Turkish course with regard to the importance of cultural values in the Turkish course. In this sense, they specified their gains towards historical events, historical figures, national and religious festivals, their flag, and literary works. * It was observed that the teacher did not experience any problems regarding their knowledge in delivering cultural values in the Turkish course; however, the students had difficulty in transferring these values into acts. Key Words: Elementary school, Turkish course, cultural values, cultural values education, case study.