Comparative analysis of course books used in integration courses in Germany and Turkey: With special reference to the adopted methods

The overall aim of this thesis is to compare the textbooks taught at the integration courses held both in Turkey and Germany in the context of German as a foreign language from the aspects of methods, principles, and their contributions to the learning process. For this purpose, first, the courses were studied in terms of their programs and components; and by this way, the similarities and differences were determined. Then, the textbooks commonly used in both countries were evaluated regarding to the degree of their contribution to language development of foreign language learner. The following questions were tried to be answered in parallel with the overall aims of this study: 1. What are the objectives of the language programs designed to provide Turkish and German language education? 2. What are the similar and different aspects of both language programs in terms of program components? 3. Is there any consistency between the books analyzed in the context of this study and the language programs considering the objectives, content, learning experiences, and assessment process? 4. What are the main criteria addressed to during the course books preparation? 5. What are the characteristics of the outer structure of textbooks? (The cover, binder, text, images, edge settings, etc.) 6. What are the characteristics of content of the course books? 7. Is the vocabulary teaching carried out in a sequential order or not? 8. What are quantities and qualitative features of selected texts? 9. What is the distribution of the texts included in the books from the perspectives of their types and messages? 10. Are the comprehension questions related to the given texts effective enough to lead the students to think and express their thoughts in an oral or written way? 11. What are the methods adopted in order to gain the early-defined learning objectives? 12. Which foreign language methods and techniques were applied? As a result, it was seen that both integration programs shared similarities in setting their objectives. However, when it comes to the program design, the one in Turkish has more detailed information than the one in German. In Germany, during educational conferences special objectives and educational conditions are determined by taking the regional characteristics into consideration. During the application part, adhering to the main program, these decisions taken in these conferences are applied. It was also seen that both programs did not give enough importance to the affective and psychomotor behaviors of the learners. In terms of cover, the course books in German were noted to be more quality and handy. For teaching-learning process, it was noted that while in German context teacher's books played the role of guidance, in Turkish context, they directed teachers step by step with the pre-determined teaching methods. In terms of text selection, the texts in German course books were mostly selected from the real-worlds of the learners. On the other hand, in Turkish books, the texts were more informative or more suitable for the adults. Keywords: Integration Courses, German Integration Policies, Foreign Language Education, Foreign Language Teaching Methods, Foreign Language Course Books, Integration and Migration.