An analysis of Kurdish teaching practice in Turkey (1968-2018)

This study aims to analyze Kurdish language teaching practices at independent institutions and courses; private courses and universities; public institutions, schools, and universities in Turkey in terms of language teaching methods, material design, coursebooks, and teacher competence. "In-depth interview" and "Non-participant observation" techniques have been used for data collection in this qualitative study. Thirty-three teacher, academic, and coursebook writers of Kurdish have been interviewed within in-dept interviews. The non-participant observation was conduct in eight secondary schools which have Kurdish as elective courses. According to the research results, the teaching of Kurdish which was started at some organization and culture centers have been continued at institutions from 1993, at private courses from 2004 and public school and universities from the 2010s onward. According to the research findings it was seen that the experience of teaching Kurdish in different places varies in terms of course material, teacher competence, and student profile. Teaching Kurdish was in the form of teaching grammar in the beginning years. However, in the following years, language teaching books have been prepared only for teaching Kurdish, and modern language teaching methods have been followed in Kurdish teaching in Turkey. It was determined that the students who participated in Kurdish teaching activities from the beginning are generally Kurdish. Kurdish teaching in Turkey, because of this feature can be considered as the literacy course. Moreover, as students get familiar with Kurdish literature, history, and culture, it is also possible to evaluate them as critical literacy courses. Kurdish elective courses that have been given from since 2012 were welcomed as they break certain taboos and arose Kurdish visibility, however it has found that material design and teacher competence of these courses were not at the desired level. Keywords: Language teaching, Teaching Kurdish, Critical literacy, Material design, Teacher competence.