An analysis of the materials prepared for teaching Turkish as a foreign language to Syrian students in terms of vocabulary: The example of Aslı Story Series

This study aims to reveal the word frequency of the Aslı Story Series, one of the materials prepared within the scope of the PICTES project, and its vocabulary, including proverbs, idioms, reduplication, set phrases, and onomatopoeia. Document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The study's data set consists of the 10-book Aslı Story series, prepared for A1-A2 level learners in the 6-12 age group. The stories' documents were accessed from the project's official website during the data-gathering phase. The data were analyzed with the CIBAKAYA 2.3 program. In order to make the texts ready to be uploaded to the program, the words were separated from the inflectional suffixes and analyzed in their root or stem form. In addition, proverbs, idioms, reduplications, set phrases, and onomatopoeias were arranged to be considered as single words. The findings were compiled into tables and interpreted after the words were uploaded to the system. The findings obtained within the scope of the study were validated by a Turkish teacher with a master's degree and an academician with a doctorate. The stories constituted the study's data set and were evaluated with the activities at the end of the books. They were evaluated in terms of word frequency according to Pierce's (1963) Frequency Table and vocabulary according to the learning outcomes of Turkish as a Foreign Language Teaching Program TFLT (2020). As a result of the evaluations, it was found that the words used in the texts were highly similar to the words in Pierce's (1963) frequency table. The vocabulary in the series was determined to be compatible with the listening/viewing and reading achievements at the A1-A2 level of TFLT (2020). At the end of the study, suggestions were presented on the subject. Keywords: Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language, Vocabulary, Supplementary Reading Books