Student opinions regarding the Turkish grammar and nominal case suffixes in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

This study aims to answer the research question ?What are the opinions of students who learn Turkish as a foreign language regarding Turkish grammar and nominal case suffixes in general??In the study, in order to identify the student opinions, who learn Turkish as a foreign language, regarding Turkish grammar and nominal case suffixes, an introspective focus group discussion-based qualitative method has been utilized.The population of the study consists of the students who learn Turkish as a foreign language in TÖMER at Ankara University. The sample of the study, however, is composed of the students who were learning Turkish in Basic I-B and II-A levels in TÖMER at Ankara University at the time when the research was carried out. Within the scope of the study, first in order to measure the state of knowledge of the students regarding nominal case suffixes, a test prepared after taking expert opinions was applied to 17 students in Basic I-B in TÖMER at Ankara University on 09/01/2010-10/31/2010. In the second place, the correct and wrong answers of the students in the tests were identified and based on the scores, 8 students were classified into sub-groups: high, mid, low. Then, focus-group discussions were applied to these classified students. The data gathered from the focus-group discussions were examined through qualitative and content analyses; consequently, the findings regarding 9 sub-goals of the study were reached.The results of the study reveal that the students learning Turkish as a foreign language thought that learning Turkish and Turkish grammar is not difficult, the first language had positive and negative effects on learning Turkish and nominal case suffixes in Turkish, and there are many reasons of making mistakes while using nominal case suffixes, ranging from lack of attention to the effect of first language. In the light of these results, a variety of suggestions have been provided for the course-book writers, teachers of Turkish as a foreign language and related institutions. Moreover, as a result of the study, list of ?verbs and nominal case suffixes? appropriate for A1-A2 levels has been prepared and given in the appendices.