The use of writing letter to learn activity in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

The present study aims at examining the learning and intercultural interaction status of Turkey and Turkish cultural elements, which was determined through writing to learn activity, by the students who learn Turkish as a foreign language at A2, B1 and B2 levels of private and YTB groups at TÖMER, Akdeniz University during 2018-2019 academic year. It adopted the case study design of qualitative research methods. The study group consisted of 90 students (45=female, 45=male) who were learning Turkish as a foreign language in 2018-2019 academic year at TÖMER, Akdeniz University in Konyaaltı, Antalya. Student demographic information form and students' worksheets were used as data collection tools in the research and document analysis technique was used to collect data. Three applications were carried out with the students at two-month intervals. The applications and groups were as follows: (The first application, 32 A2-level Private and 21 A2-level YTB students), (The second application, 27 B1-level Private and 22 B1-level YTB students), and (The third application, 20 B2-level Private and 22 B2-level YTB students). During the application, students information was provided about the activity and they were asked to write a letter introducing Turkey and Turkish culture to a friend. The data proceeded in the study were collected by the researcher and analysed through the content analysis technique. 90 letters, 15 of which were from each of the six groups, were selected. The relevant sentences in the letters were determined and cultural elements were identified and 11 themes were created. The data were examined within the framework of these themes. According to the research result, since the students were informed that it was not an exam so they chose a friend to whom they wanted to write a letter, they were sincere while writing letters and expressed what they knew about the subject in their letters comfortably. In addition, it was observed that female students wrote more detailed expressions compared to males at all levels and groups.