Foreign language education and Dârülfünûn Elsine Department in Ottoman Higher Education Of The Second Constitutional Period (1908-1918)

In our study, which aims to teach foreign language education in higher education institutions during the Second Constitutional Monarchy period, it was tried to reveal how and in which ways foreign language teaching took place. The Ottoman state had problems in educating the foreign language citizens it needed and this problem continued during the second constitutional period as well. However, this problem was also mentioned both in the periodicals and by the educators during this period and some suggestions for the solutions of the problem for foreign language education were submitted and the administrators responsible for the education were also involved in this direction. The most important educational institution opened for foreign language teaching in the Second Constitutional Monarchy period was the Elsine / Language Department that opened under Darülfünun which was also functioned in the extent of Faculty of Literature that operated for two terms. In this department, with Darülfünun students, students that attending secondary and higher education, and many other Ottoman citizens who were civilians and servants were provided for education. This educational institution whose main purpose was to train foreign language teachers opened its doors to all Ottoman citizens and served as a foreign language education center in this respect. This educational institution, which is inadequate information about in the contemporary studies, was examined in terms of both institutional and foreign language teaching aspects in our study. Keywords: The Second Constitutional Period, high education, foreign language education, teaching methods, Darülfünun, Elsine/Language Department.