[Examination of cultural elements in listening and reading texts in Turkish teaching materials for foreigners: Yunus Emre Institute Yedi İklim Turkish Teaching Set example (B1 - B2 level)]

Language is a dynamic system that distinguishes humans from other living beings, enables cognitive processes and social interactions, and reflects a society's mental map, cultural values, and historical heritage. While a common language forms the foundation of social cohesion and national identity, preserving the language also means preserving cultural heritage. Due to Turkey's geopolitical position and growing international influence, there has been an increasing interest in the Turkish language, turning the teaching of Turkish as a foreign language into a process of linguistic and cultural transmission. This, in turn, provides learners of Turkish with the opportunity to gain insight into Turkish societal values and lifestyle. In line with this goal, various publishing houses have developed educational materials for teaching Turkish. This study examines the extent to which elements of Turkish culture and civilization are represented in the Yedi İklim B1 and B2 Turkish textbooks prepared by the Yunus Emre Institute. Using document analysis, a total of 161 reading and listening texts were analyzed. The findings revealed that while some texts contain elements specific to Turkish culture, others include no cultural references at all. Moreover, in a portion of the 116 texts that did include cultural elements, these elements were found to reflect universal cultural features rather than distinctive aspects of Turkish culture. As a result, the study concluded that the examined materials are insufficient in terms of cultural transmission. This finding highlights the need for more deliberate and systematic inclusion of cultural elements in future Turkish language teaching materials.