The attitude of Turkish parents living in Germany towards bilingualism of their children

As the number of Turkish people living abroad rises day by day, there is also an increase in the number of Turkish citizens having difficulty in language acquisition. The aim of this research is to determine the attitude of Turkish parents, living in Germany and raising their children bilingually, towards bilingualism and to contribute to the related literature. Additionally, this work will make contributions on deciding which studies should be developed to provide the continuity and the proper usage of the Turkish language by the future generations. The focus group of this basic qualitative research work consists of 28 voluntary Turkish families, living in the city of Heidelberg of the province of Baden-Württemberg in Germany in the year 2022. The population of the study comprises families with children. Among the families living there, 28 families were chosen by means of random sampling method. In order to determine the attitude of Turkish parents living abroad towards bilingualism, 28 families were semi-structured interviewed. The interview was documented in writing through the questionnaire and analysed with the content analysis method. The solution of the research shows that the absolute amount of the parents wants to raise their children bilingually. Moreover, the participants regard bilingualism as an advantage for them and their children. In addition, although the parents want their children to learn Turkish, it comes in sight that they make the slightest effort. Furthermore, the Turkish talktime at home decreases. Finally, in contravention of the changing factors, such as gender, among the participants, there aren't significant differences between the answers. Based on the results, different suggestions for the parents, children and institutions were placed at the end of the research.