Intercultural communication and the aspects of intercultural sensitivity in teaching Turkish as a foreign/second language

What an individual thinks or perceives as normal or natural in his own culture may have different meanings in other cultures; it may be perceived differently and misinterpreted by individuals in different cultures, or it may coincide with a concept that has no meaning. This is the principal foundation of intercultural communication. In order for individuals to have effective intercultural interaction, they must have developed intercultural sensitivity. In this sense, learners and instructors must have intercultural sensitivity. Besides, textbooks, which are basic teaching resources, must show cultural differences to learners in terms of content and ensure that learners do not alienate different cultural values and judgments, and are open and tolerant to differences in foreign/second language teaching. This is possible with the acquisition of intercultural sensitivity in language teaching classes. The aim of this study is to analyze the contents of textbooks and practices used in teaching Turkish as a foreign/second language in terms of intercultural sensitivity aspects, to identify the factors affecting the intercultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism levels of learners and instructors, and to make suggestions by evaluating the results. For this purpose, in this research, which was planned as a multiple case study, the factors affecting the intercultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism levels of the learners who studied Turkish at Cukurova University Turkish Teaching, Application and Research Center in the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 academic years and the instructors who teach Turkish to international learners were examined. For this purpose, in this research, which was planned as a multiple case study, it was examined which factors affected the intercultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism levels of the students who studied Turkish at Cukurova University Turkish Teaching, Application and Research Center in the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 academic years and the instructors who teach Turkish to international learners. In addition, "intercultural sensitivity" aspects in "Yedi İklim Türkçe" and "New Istanbul Turkish for International Students Couse Book" were examined, based on the grounds that students will extensively use books as course materials for a long time during their language education, and that the abovementioned textbooks are the ones used by language centers and institutions fort he purpose of teaching Turkish as a foreign and second language. In the research, "Intercultural Sensitivity Scale", "Ethnocentrism Scale", interview forms, "Criteria for Examining Intercultural Sensitivity Aspects in Turkish as a Foreign/Second Language Textbooks" were used as quantitative and qualitative data collection tools. Quantitative data obtained from the scales applied to learners and instructors were analyzed via SPSS. Turkish as a foreign/second language textbooks were examined with the document analysis method in line with the criteria developed by the inductive method. As a result of this research, it was determined which factors are affecting the intercultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism levels of learners and instructors. In additon, research findings have shown that there are positive features in the textbooks, such as activities and cultural content that will enable learners to be tolerant, empathize and arouse curiosity, but there are also deficiencies that are recommended to be improved. Analysing the data received, suggestions have been put forward to regard the development of intercultural sensitivity of learners and instructors and the appearance of intercultural sensitivity in textbooks.