Comparison of theories, models and methods in second language acquisition and basic skills in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

Language acquisition can be simply defined as the process of learning another language after the mother tongue. These terms can take form even as a second, third, or even fourth language acquisition. The important point at this stage is the acquisition of a non-native language after the mother tongue. For this reason, every language learned other than the mother tongue can be called a second language, regardless of whether it is the second, third or fourth. When second language acquisition is considered in this broad sense, it can be considered as the process of a language that is learned by exposure to natural, real situations as well as in the classroom environment. On the other hand, it is possible to learn a foreign language in an environment where one's mother tongue is spoken. In this context, it has become inevitable to learn the language of -especially- the immigration countries such as Turkey, as a foreign language in one's own country or in another foreign country; to contribute to the academic, social and professional development of individuals, to understand, to be understood and to communicate in these regions. At this point, this study first examined and compared language acquisition concepts, theories, models and methods with a qualitative method and questioned the best possible choice for a qualified foreign language acquisition. As a result of this, it has been concluded that each theory, model and method is not more successful or unsuccessful than the previous and the next, but that each has certain contributions on language acquisition. Then, the sources and types of mistakes made while learning a second or a foreign language, the attitude to be taken against mistakes and the effect of error analysis on language acquisition were examined and as a result, it was concluded that the precautions and teaching methods that teachers should take and teaching methods were shaped with errors that could be predicted by error analysis for a qualified language learning and acquisition. In the next section, the concepts of second language acquisition and foreign language acquisition, which are used interchangeably from time to time, are emphasized, and the issues they differ from each other are discussed in detail. Finally, how Turkish as a foreign language is taught and learned on the basis of skills was examined. And suggestions were made for putting the theories discussed in practice by giving ideas on how to improve these skills in the lessons. Key Words: Language acquisition, second language acquisition, foreign language acquisition, teaching Turkish as a foreign language, error analysis, language acquisition skills.