The language and integration problems of the Syrian refugee students

This study aims to measure the proficiency and performance of Turkish-Arabic bilingual Syrian refugee students in Turkish as a second language, identify adaptation problems by obtaining the views of administrators, teachers, and parents of these students, and examine the identified problems with a systematic perspective to shed light on the language development of the students in Turkish as a second language with research results. This research, designed as an explanatory sequential pattern from mixed methods, is typical phenomenological research shaped in the context of refugee status and bilingualism. The research was conducted on 422 students at 4th and 8th grade levels in state schools, one primary and the other secondary, in Gaziantep, one of the provinces with the highest Syrian refugee population in Turkey. Language profile test, language proficiency, language attitude, and language usage tests were applied to the students. In addition, reading comprehension test and free writing activity were implemented to predict students' skills in the second language. A questionnaire was administered to parents to provide supportive input to predict students' interest, attitude, and achievements in Turkish as a second language, while a semi-structured interview form was applied to teachers and school administrators. The interview results were analyzed by content analysis, and the other findings were analyzed with a cross-tabulation and regression analysis and modeled with a structural equation model. In this context, it was found that reading comprehension and writing skills of students are the strongest predictors. The determinacy coefficient for writing skills is R2 = 0.688, and it was seen that language proficiency, language attitude, reading skills, gender, class, and language history variables explain 68.8%. The determinacy coefficient for reading comprehension skills is R2 = 0.708, and it was found that language proficiency, language attitude, gender, class, language history, age, and writing skills variables explain approximately 70%. The variables that most positively influence writing skills are class level and gender, while the variables that positively influence reading comprehension skills are, in order of relative importance, writing score, class level, and language proficiency. While no significant difference was found between reading comprehension and writing skills and age, a positive difference was found in terms of length of stay and education in Turkey. It was also determined that 8th-grade students have better reading comprehension and writing skills.