Evaluation of Hasan Kallimci's "Balasagunlu Yusuf", "Bilgin Şehzade", "Anadolu'dan Yükselen Ses" books in terms of vocabulary and readability

Turkish language courses aim to help students expand their vocabulary through reading, listening and watching as well as to cultivate an appreciation for the aesthetic qualities of the language. In alignment with this goal, the present study aims to analyze the vocabulary and readability levels of three children's books by Hasan Kallimci: Bilgin Şehzade, Balasagunlu Yusuf, and Anadolu'dan Yükselen Ses. These three books serve as the primary materials examined in this research. Employing a descriptive survey model, the study adopted document analysis as a qualitative data collection method. The books were examined with regard to idioms, proverbs, set phrases, formulaic expressions, technical terms, and reduplications. Vocabulary elements were identified through reference to sources such as the Turkish Language Association's (TDK) Dictionary of Proverbs and Idioms, Ömer Asım Aksoy's Dictionary of Proverbs and Idioms, Semra Bayraktar's Formulaic Expressions, and Hürriyet Gökdayı's article Formulaic Expressions in Turkish. Readability levels were determined using the formulas developed by Çetinkaya–Uzun and Ateşman. The findings regarding vocabulary were presented in frequency tables and exemplified with randomly selected sentences from the texts. Likewise, the readability analysis was presented in tabular form based on sentence, word, and syllable counts, and calculated using the respective formulas. The results revealed that Anadolu'dan Yükselen Ses contained the highest number of vocabulary elements, while Balasagunlu Yusuf had the lowest. Idioms were the most frequently used vocabulary element, followed by technical terms, set phrases, and reduplications, whereas proverbs and formulaic expressions appeared least frequently. According to both the Çetinkaya–Uzun and Ateşman readability formulas, all three books were determined to be suitable for 8th–9th grade readers and classified as easy to read. The findings were compared with relevant studies in the literature and evaluated accordingly.