Readability of Turkish course books for foreigners: An example of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Turkish teaching set for foreigners

Foreign language learners of Turkish primarily utilize textbooks as their primary resource. One of the criteria for assessing whether the texts in these textbooks are appropriate for the learners' language levels is readability. Readability is defined as the ease or difficulty with which a reader can understand a text. When language learners can easily read and comprehend the materials prepared for them, their motivation to learn increases. One of the research topics related to Turkish textbooks for foreigners is the examination of the readability of the texts contained within these books. Investigating the readability of texts is crucial for ensuring that learners encounter texts suitable for their language levels. Therefore, there is a need to analyze the readability of the texts in Turkish textbooks for foreigners. This study aims to assess the readability levels of texts in five textbooks (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1-C2) from the Turkish teaching set of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, a topic previously unexplored in the literature. In this study, a total of 136 texts from these books were analyzed for readability. A case study design, a qualitative research method, was employed for the research. Data were collected through document analysis. The readability of the texts was calculated using the Çetinkaya-Uzun (2010) readability formula. The obtained readability levels were tabulated, and the distribution of readability according to language levels was determined. Based on the data, readability levels of texts across different language levels were compared. It was found that in the textbooks for levels A1, A2, B1, and B2, there were few texts with impaired readability, while the majority of texts were at an educational readability level. In contrast, the textbook for level C1- C2 contained a number of texts with impaired readability close to that of educational readability texts. It was determined that as the language level of the textbooks increased, the readability scores decreased, indicating that the readability level of texts becomes more challenging according to language levels. This finding suggests that the texts are appropriately adjusted to match the learners' language proficiency.