A study on the written expressions of Turkish learners as a foreign language and their use of verbal adjective

The purpose of this study is to examine the use of verbal adjectives in the written expressions of learners of Turkish as a foreign language according to various variables. It was prepared in line with the survey model of the quantitative research methods and it has a descriptive feature. The research population were B2-level students who were learning Turkish at Akdeniz University Turkish Teaching Centre. The research sampling, on the other hand, consisted of 60 students who were having training in this centre during the 2018-2019 academic year. Demographic information form and composition papers were used as data gathering tools. The data were collected at different times by letting the students perform an application once. During the application, instructions were given and the students were asked to complete their task in 50 mins. The written expression works were scored by two field specialists. The collected data were interpreted by using quantitative data analysis techniques and Fleiss KAPPA analysis, which is one of the interrater reliability calculation techniques, was computed. The analysis techniques were decided after applying the normality test for the independent variables "gender, mother tongue, residence time in Turkey, objectives to learn Turkish, mother education level, father education level and frequency of reading a Turkish publication" of the research separately. According to the findings, it was found that the students' scores in the rubrics, which was prepared to measure verbal adjective use of the students, did not show statistically meaningful difference according to the gender. However, it significantly differed based on the mother tongue, the residence time in Turkey and the objectives to learn Turkish. Moreover, it was revealed that their scores in each section meaningfully differed according to the mother-father education level of the students. There was also a difference between the frequency of reading a Turkish publication and students' scores in the rubric. As a result, the gender factor had no effect on the verbal adjective use of the students. It was concluded that the speakers of Turkish origin languages were more successful. In addition, it was revealed that as the residence time in Turkey got longer, the students' success also increased. It was finally concluded that the increase in the educational level of the parents had a positive effect on the scores of the students and the students' success increased as the frequency of reading a Turkish publication. Keywords: Language education, Teaching Turkish to Foreigners, Teaching Writing, Use of verbal adjectives