An analysis of the views of secondary school level bilingual students (Russian/Turkish) on the effects of sociocultural environment on the use of Turkish

For centuries, societies with different languages, origins and cultures have lived and continue to live together due to migration, war, education and many other reasons. After the 2000s, Antalya, one of the important tourism centres of Turkey, has become the centre of attention of foreign tourists. It is based on Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, which presents the well-known zone of proximal development (ZPD) metaphor. Vygotsky (1986) argues that there is a strong link between language and culture and that communication and interaction are essential to enhance the language learning process. Vygotskian theory is based on the relationship between social interaction and language development (Vygotsky, 1979; Kozulin, Gindis, Ageyev & Miller, 2003; Lantolf & Poehner, 2008; Lantolf, 2009). In this direction, the study was designed according to the case study, one of the qualitative research methods. Criterion sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to determine the study group. The participants of the study included 10 Russian participants studying in a private school with the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. The study group was carried out with ten Russian students at the secondary school level, whose opinions were obtained in detail through a semi-structured individual interview form. The most appropriate questions were determined for the purpose of the current study. In order to achieve higher reliability, the researcher avoided using questions that would lead the participants to a specific answer, instead providing plenty of details to clarify the interview questions. To obtain accurate data, participants were also asked to explain their opinions during the interviews and the researcher indicated how she interpreted their statements to confirm their interpretations. In this study, data were collected through initial individual semi-structured interviews with all participants and in-depth interviews with the participating students and a questionnaire based on the researcher's interviews with the participating students. In this study, Creswell and Creswell's five-stage model was used. As a result of the research, it was concluded that ten Russian students make language choice depending on the sociocultural environment. It was concluded that while Russian students prefer Turkish language in the school environment, they prefer Russian language with their families. It was concluded that the participants, who mostly spend time with their mothers due to their age, act according to the sociocultural environment of their mothers. It was concluded that Turkish language should be given to students, especially foreign students in the younger age group, in a creative and interesting way. It is seen that knowing two languages affects their motivation to learn other languages. Sociocultural environment affects both languages of the students and language choice can change according to their social environment. It was reported that language and sociocultural environment are intertwined and should not be ignored in language development. It was stated in the research that the participants tried to keep up with the Turkish language and culture and that they were active. Keywords: Mother tongue, second language, Bilingualism, Sociocultural environment, Migration, Globalisation