Investigation of Turkish learning difficulties in Syrian students

INVESTIGATION OF TURKISH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES IN SYRIAN STUDENTS Göksal, Ali Master's Degree, Department of Classroom Education Thesis Advisor: Dr. Lecturer Member Fatma Budak July 2024, xiv + 79 pages People who have to leave their home countries for various reasons feel the need to use their native language in order to make their presence felt and even accepted in the countries they go to and to make their voices heard. In addition, maintaining their native language, social identity and culture, and transferring this common heritage from the past to future generations has become the most important conflict of existence and poverty in these people's lives. In the research conducted, the reasons for the difficulties of Syrian students living in Turkey in learning Turkish and their learning-using processes are examined in detail; It is aimed to determine the educational difficulties faced by Syrian students in general terms, based on the opinions of Syrian students, their parents and the teachers who teach them. It is a study that was created with the concern of capturing the reasons of the language problem, which seems like a barrier to the education given in schools. The sample group consists of the Fatih district of Istanbul, where foreigners and especially Syrians live densely. Qualitative research method was used in this study, which was conducted based on the opinions of the participants. Interview method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. A semi-structured interview form prepared with questions appropriate to its purpose was applied in face-to-face interviews with the participants. The collected data were divided into categories through content analysis. The study group of the research consists of 8 teachers, 13 students and 13 parents selected from a school within the scope of the PICTES Project. Participants were asked face-to-face questions and their answers were recorded. Again, voice recordings were made with permission from the participants, and then the recordings were transcribed and the answers were categorized by content analysis. It is thought that the results of this study will be a guide for teachers who have students who have difficulty speaking Turkish in their classrooms. In the research, it was found that Syrians living in Turkey do not have any prejudices against Turkey and the Turkish language, and even if the events in Syria calm down, they do not think of returning to their own country, educated families consciously direct their children to learn Turkish and facilitate their Turkish learning process with various activities, and children of families who speak Turkish also It was concluded that they learned Turkish easily. In addition, participants who are considering going to Syria if there are improvements in the coming years are worried that their children will forget Arabic and do not want to experience the language problems their children experienced in Turkey in Syria again. For this reason, it was concluded that they sent their children to Arabic courses. Many Syrian parents alleviate this fear to some extent by speaking Arabic at home, thinking that as much as they want their children to learn Turkish, they should not forget their native language. In general opinion, the biggest problem Syrian students experience in learning Turkish is the lack of needs. Communicating in Arabic with their families at home and with their Arab friends at school reduces their need to speak Turkish, which prevents them from learning Turkish. Families do not pay the necessary attention to Turkish due to their concerns about returning/being sent to Syria, teachers do not have the opportunity and time to teach Turkish due to the increasing class sizes with Syrians, families think that children should only learn Turkish by going to school, PIKTES + educators do not know Arabic, which limits the education they provide, and families' economic inadequacies limit Syrian children's ability to learn Turkish. emerged as difficulties.