Opinions of educators on Turkish and Turkish culture course conducted within the scope of teaching Turkish to Turkish children abroad

The aim of this study is to identify the subjective experiences of Turkish and Turkish Culture course educators of Turkish children abroad regarding their in-class practices and to determine their opinions. Phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The research sample consisted of a total of 24 participants, 21 educators teaching Turkish and Turkish Culture courses in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the USA, and Saudi Arabia, and 3 educational attachés who worked in Germany, determined by snowball sampling method. As a data collection tool, two separate semi-structured interview forms were developed by the researcher. The first one was designed for the educators and the second one was designed for the administrators (education attaché). The first part of the semi-structured interview form developed for the educators consists of an 11-question demographic information form, while the second part of the form consists of 5 main questions and 24 follow-up questions. The first part of the semi-structured interview form for administrators consists of a 12-question demographic information form, while the second part of the form consists of 4 main questions and 4 sub-questions. Interviews were conducted voluntarily, 3 of them were conducted face-to-face, and 21 of them were conducted via electronic media. The validity and reliability of the interview forms were validated with the feedback obtained from a total of 9 field experts, 1 from measurement and evaluation experts, 2 from educational sciences, and 6 from the Turkish language teaching department, who continue to work in 2 different state universities in Turkey. The interviews were analyzed by thematic coding through content analysis, one of the qualitative data analysis methods, and intercoder reliability was determined based on the formulation of Agreement / Agreement + Disagreement, and it was concluded that the coding similarity rate was 82% (0.82) with high reliability. As a result of the research, "what the educators did" regarding the course was revealed and their suggestions were identified. In addition, "what was conveyed" to the educational attachés about the course and their suggestions were revealed. As a result of the analysis of the opinions of the participants who participated in the research as educators, 8 themes (listening, reading, speaking, writing, vocabulary teaching, teaching letter-sound correspondence teaching culture, suggestions) were reached. In the category of resources used in the listening theme; literary/authentic text, song, video, film/cartoon codes were reached, while in the activity category; during listening, comprehension after listening, reading aloud, distinguishing sounds, and reading the national anthem codes were reached. While the codes of literary/authentic texts and simple texts were found in the resources category of the reading theme, the codes of free reading, comprehension of the text read, 5N1K, and speed reading were found in the activities category. In the activities category of the speaking theme, the codes of spontaneous speaking, role play/drama, text dramatization, pronunciation/accurate pronunciation, question-answer, talking about visuals, card games, and planned speaking were found, while in the feedback category, the codes of immediate explicit correction, correction of common mistakes and correction if necessary were found. In the activities category of the writing theme, the codes of dictation, letter writing, free/creative writing, self-introduction, short question-answer, brainstorming, and classroom instructions were found, while in the feedback category, the codes of one-to-one correction and correction of common mistakes were found. In the vocabulary teaching theme, only the method category was determined and the codes of translation equivalent, dictionary, contextualization, synonyms, games, and visuals were reached. In the theme of teaching letter-sound correspondence, only the category of teaching different sounds was determined and the codes of song, reading-writing, comparison, and picture word studies were reached. In the theme of teaching culture, only the category of activities was identified and the codes of national and religious holiday celebrations, folk dances, songs, theatre, and Turkish day were found. Finally, in the teacher category of the theme of suggestions; the codes of special skills, language competence, and adaptation to the education system were found, while in the course category; the codes of level classes, integration, and grading were found. In the category of books, the codes appropriate for the level and country-specific were found, while in the category of parents, the code for raising awareness of parents was found. After analyzing the opinions of the participants who participated in the study as education attachés, 1 theme (suggestion) was reached. In the course category of the suggestion theme; the code of cultural/social activity was reached, while in the teacher category; the codes of knowing migration, language competence, entrepreneur / social and special skills were reached. In the category of parents, the code of raising awareness of parents was reached. As a result, it is seen that the participants drew attention to the implementation of in-class activities using authentic materials and game-based activities, and also emphasized the need to increase the course hours, to give this course as a compulsory course instead of an elective course, and to raise awareness of parents about the importance of mother tongue education. To sum up, it can be said that this study focuses on the experiences of educators teaching Turkish and Turkish Culture courses abroad in the context of Turkish and Turkish Culture courses and offers suggestions for the effective implementation of the courses.