Examination of textbooks in terms of proverbs and idioms for teaching Turkish to foreigners

Teaching vocabulary in teaching Turkish as a foreign language is of great importance. Because when an individual learns the language, he/she firstly encounters the vocabulary elements of that language. Vocabulary includes many elements such as words, proverbs, idioms, routines and phrasal verbs. Vocabulary has an important place in language teaching since it includes the culture of the nation to which the language belongs. The textbooks prepared to teach Turkish to foreigners provide the students with the opportunity to see the elements of the vocabulary as a whole thanks to the subjects, themes and texts included. Therefore, the books and the texts in it must present the vocabulary elements of the language correctly to the student. In this study, it is aimed to examine reading and listening texts in Gazi Turkish Textbook for Foreigners, İstanbul Turkish Textbook for Foreigners and Yunus Emre Institute Yedi İklim Turkish Textbook for Foreigners(A1-A2, B1-B2, C1), used effectively in teaching Turkish to foreigners, in terms of use of idioms and proverbs. Document analysis method was used in the study. The proverb idioms in each textbook were handled in terms of frequency and percentage according to levels and the most commonly used idioms and proverbs in textbooks were determined. As a result of the study, %13,42 of basic level, %42,36 of intermediate level and %44,21 of advanced level idioms were determined in Gazi Turkish textbook. As proverb, three advanced proverb was used in Gazi Turkish textbook. In the Istanbul Turkish textbook, %9,42 of basic level, %24,59 of intermediate level and %65,98 of advanced level idioms were determined. As the proverb, only 7 proverbs in intermediate level were used in Istanbul Turkish textbook. In the Yedi İklim Turkish textbook, %13,34 of basic level, %48,91 of intermediate level and %37,74 of advanced level idioms were determined. As the proverb, 8 proverbs in basic level, 10 proverbs in intermediate level and 11 proverbs in advanced level were used. As a result, it was concluded that the most common idioms and proverbs were used in the Yedi İklim textbooks and there was a gradual increase in levels. Keywords: Teaching Turkish as a foreign language, vocabulary, idioms, proverbs, textbooks.