Examination of the One Hundred Primary Literary Works for secondary education in terms of the aims of Turkish language and literature course

Becoming a society having language awareness, cultural background, questioning and being critical is only possible with individuals who have a reading habit and critical reading skills. The most efficient way to do this is forming programs for these purposes. Moreover, valuable literary works are the effective sources that should be used.One of the aims of the Ministry of National Education is to bring individuals in a reading habit. For this, one hundred primary literary works were identified by the Ministry in 2004 to train high school students having a reading habit and taste. Toward this aim, it was also stated that these literary works should be integrated into the Turkish Language and Literature course. The aims set by the Ministry were compatible with the objectives of the course. The aim of this study is to examine the one hundred literary works in terms of the course objectives.The population of the study is the novels in the one hundred primary literary works list. The sample, on the other hand, is five novels, three of which are domestic and two are foreign. These literary works were examined using screening model. It was found that the literary works were effective in reaching the goals when they were used under the guidance of the teachers. For this reason, the one hundred literary works should be initially read by the teachers. Additionally, class time should be devoted to the activities towards these works. In line with the results, the literary works have been related with the Turkish Language and Literature syllabus. Since there are plenty of words from Ottoman Turkish discouraging students to read, these books should be revised for them. Furthermore, more contemporary literary works should be included in the list so that the students can follow the development of Turkish literature and language.