Text exchange for those learning Turkish as a foreign language: Example of the story "Gülşefdeli Yemeni"

Today, interest in teaching Turkish as a foreign language has increased, and teaching Turkish as a foreign language has become a demanded area. With these developments, research on teaching Turkish as a foreign language has gained importance. Text modification studies have also become an area of interest in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. Text modification directly relates to the reading skills of learners. Reading texts is used to develop learners' reading skills. Besides accessing texts in course books, learners should also be able to access texts rich in literary terms that best reflect Turkish and Turkish cultural elements. With these texts, learners can get to know Turkish culture better and enjoy aesthetic pleasure. For these reasons, processes such as simplification, expansion, and facilitation should make original texts suitable for the language level. Text modification is important for these purposes. The small number of reading texts and texts that have been modified according to language levels for teaching Turkish as a foreign language increases the need for text modification studies. In response to this need, text modification processes were used to make Hüseyin Su's story "Gülşefdeli Yemeni" suitable for B1 level learners who are learning Turkish as a foreign language. The study utilized qualitative research methods. The data collection tool of the research is document analysis. In the study, the researchers made Hüseyin Su's story "Gülşefdeli Yemeni" suitable for use by B1 level learners. We consulted six expert opinions to determine the reliability of the modified text and finalized it by taking their input into account. In addition, the original and modified texts were examined in terms of discourse and narrative analysis, readability levels, and vocabulary elements. We investigated the suitability of the modified text for B1 level learners and received learned opinions regarding the text. As a result, the readability level, which was "disabled level" in the original text, was determined as "educational level" in the modified text. The modified text was made richer in terms of vocabulary. The learners evaluated the modified text as being suitable for the B1 level and answered the questions about the text correctly. Hüseyin Su's text "Gülşefdeli Yemeni" was modified for B1 level learners, and it was determined that the modified text was suitable for B1 level.