From silver screen to blackboard: Selection and pedagogical use of scenes from films and series for teaching Turkish to foreigners

This qualitative study was conducted; to determine basic pedagogical and technical criteria for selecting scenes for the themes studied in Turkish lessons; to use these criteria to select scenes; to prepare activities with these scenes; and to let instructors evaluate both the scenes and the activities. A series of document analyses and a follow up survey were conducted in order to develop a strategy to exploit the pedagogical potential of films and TV series for foreigners learning Turkish. The study was carried out in five stages. The first stage involved identifying the themes and listing the related key words found in listening and speaking activities of the coursebook Yedi İklim Türkçe B1; and creating a sample of 29 TV series and 44 films accessible on YouTube. Previously determined five criteria were used during the second (subtitle examination) and the third stages (visual examination). Subtitle files were scanned with key words and the sections with the match results were checked for thematic relatedness and ethical appropriateness. In the visual examination stage, scenes were watched and checked for ethical appropriateness, comprehensibility and length. In the fourth stage, activities were prepared again following a series of principles adopted from the literature and in light of learning outcomes from the coursebook. In total 38 activities were created with 42 scenes matching the prior selection criteria. Finally, an examination by 7 instructors teaching Turkish as a second language at Hacettepe University (TÖMER) revealed most scenes to be thematically related, ethically appropriate and comprehensible; and a majority of activities to be usable and suitable for teaching.