Analysis of the mistakes in the writing of North Macedonians who learn Turkish as a foreign language

The aim of this research is to examine the written expression mistakes of North Macedonian students who learn Turkish as a foreign language. In the research, quantitative analysis of qualitative data was made using the descriptive survey model, one of the qualitative research methods. In the 2018-2019 academic year, essay papers of 84 students in basic (A1-A2) and intermediate (B1-B2) levels were examined at Skopje Yunus Emre Institute. In the sample of the study, there are 45 learners in A1, 15 in A2, 14 in B1 and 10 in B2. The study group consists of 44 Macedonians, 26 Albanians and 14 Bosniaks. The gender distribution of the learners is 69 women and 15 men. Data collection tools were prepared by taking expert opinion. For each level, three topics were determined and a total of 12 composition topics were selected. A structured interview form was applied to obtain the demographic information of the learners. In the interview form, it was asked to fill in personal information about the students' name, surname, age, gender, nationality, mother tongue, educational status, employment status and level. In addition to the interview form, five open-ended questions about Turkish and writing skills were asked to be answered. Personal information of 84 students in total were kept confidential and coded as S1, S2…. The data in this study were analyzed according to Sridhar's incorrect analysis technique. The data obtained from the interview form were classified and coded with the help of Nvivo 11 program. In this context, frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed with the data obtained from the participants with the help of SPSS 23.0 statistics program. As a result of the analysis, a total of 2002 errors were determined, including 269 errors in phonics, 598 in morphology, 365 in syntax, 402 in semantics, 368 in spelling. It was determined that the mistakes made in phonetics were the palatal harmony; in morphology were suffixes; in the use of prepositions and conjunctions in syntax; in the misuse of words in semantics; and in the punctuation in spelling. In the quantitative analysis of data; Independent sample t test was performed according to the gender of the participants and no statistically significant result was obtained. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed for the variables according to the age groups, nationality, education level and working status of the participants and no statistically significant result was reached. It was seen that there is a significant difference between the students on the levels of A1-B2 and B1-B2. It has been observed that there is a significant difference between Macedonians and Albanians in international groups. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to reveal whether it differentiates according to Turkish levels. It has been observed that this difference is significant between people with A1 and A2 levels. Solution suggestions for the mistakes identified in the study were presented.