Idioms in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

Language is a living being that conveys feelings and thoughts within certain rules and forms a bridge with future generations. Human communities turn into a nation through language, because language and culture are connected by inseparable bonds. The culture of that nation is transferred to new generations through language. Since language is a living being, it is also affected by culture. Consequently, there is an interaction between language and culture that affects each other. By learning a language as a foreign language, the culture of the nation in which that language is spoken is learned. Therefore, teaching a language as a foreign language means teaching the cultural elements of that nation to foreigners. In this cultural transfer, vocabularies are of great importance in terms of reflecting the culture of that nation. In this study, the extent to which the use of idioms from vocabulary in teaching Turkish as a foreign language is examined. In this context, the idioms in "Istanbul Turkish Teaching Set for Foreigners" and "Yedi İklim Turkish Teaching Set" were analyzed and then subjected to analysis by categorizing. As a result, it was stated that the idioms in these sets used in teaching Turkish for foreigners are few in number, and that idioms containing the body parts are used more, and that idioms should be included more in the related sets. Keywords: Language, culture, Turkish as a foreign language, idioms.