Stories of Turkish teachers in the PIKTES + project: A narrative study

This study aims to examine the experiences of the language teaching process to Syrian students through the narratives of Turkish teachers who teach Turkish within the scope of the PIKTES + Project. In the study where the life story type of narrative research, one of the qualitative research designs, was used, ten Turkish teachers formed the study group. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview guide and examined using the content analysis method. It was revealed that during the process of Turkish teachers' inclusion in the PIKTES + project, media tools contributed to the participants' awareness of the project, the interview process at the start of the job, and the seminars organized at the training stage contributed to their professional development. Teachers stated that the fact that the administrators were unaware of the project on their first days of duty negatively affected their experiences, the support of Syrian assistant teachers, and the uncertainty and waiting period during the application process were a difficult stage. Turkish teachers stated that not enough value was given to the culture of Syrians, especially children's education and women. In their thoughts about being a Turkish teacher, participants stated that they adopted teaching Turkish not only as a job but also as a source of identity and meaning. Teachers experienced problems such as lack of materials, level differences between students, indifference of families, the mother tongue being Arabic, and inability to maintain discipline. They stated individual material preparation, family communication, communicating with Turks, and using different techniques as a solution suggestion. They stated that students exhibited an unwilling attitude about the process of learning Turkish, that resistance to learning was generally related to the family environment and environmental factors, that they were not exposed to Turkish and that they did not need it. Turkish teachers stated that they tried to enrich the course content by giving importance to communication and reading in the language teaching process during one of their days at school. Teachers stated that they felt loved, happy and compassionate in their relationships with their Syrian students. As a result of the experiences gained by Turkish teachers, it was concluded that there were and were not changes in their perspectives towards Syrians over time. Turkish teachers expressed their contributions to the educational processes with the meaningful experiences they had in their unforgettable memories.