The use of Peirce's non-language indicators in secondary school Turkish textbooks

The basic materials used in Turkish lessons are Turkish textbooks and the texts presented through these books. These texts contain more than the sentences that compose themselves. In Turkish lessons, besides written language, non-linguistic elements should be brought to the fore and written language and non-linguistic indicators should be considered as a whole. The messages presented by the non-linguistic indicators in the Turkish textbooks have an important place in the interpretation of the written text. This study was prepared by using the descriptive survey model, one of the qualitative research methods. 80 texts in various text types from 8 Turkish textbooks belonging to 4 different publishers and used in Turkish lessons in the 2021-2022 Academic Year, approved by the Ministry of National Education, constitute the scope of the study. Document analysis of these texts within the scope was made. While the texts are being read, the visuals on the pages are unwittingly analyzed by the student using semiotic methods. Based on this situation, non-linguistic signs in the texts were tried to be handled in line with semiotic concepts. At this point, the terms used by Peirce for non-linguistic signs were preferred. non-linguistic signs; The indicator type was tabulated under the headings of indicator, signifier, indicated and in-text posting and the data obtained were interpreted by supporting the quotations from the text. In addition, cultural elements in non-linguistic indicators are also included in the table. As a result of the study, it is understood that the visuals used together with the written text are extremely important in the process of making sense of the text. Examining non-linguistic indicators by making use of semiotic terms facilitates the process of making sense of the text. It is seen that among the indicator types, the most visual indicator is used, followed by the symptom and symbol types. While non-linguistic indicators used in Turkish textbooks in general are compatible with the written text; was found insufficient in terms of containing cultural elements. Keywords: Non-linguistic indicators; Turkish textbook; Making sense of the text.