Investigating intermediate level Turkish teaching coursebooks for foreigners Istanbul and yedi iklim in terms of culture transfer

In this study, two intermediate level Turkish teaching coursebooks, namely, İstanbul and Yedi İklim were examined in terms of culture items and the findings were evaluated. İstanbul was written by Istanbul University Language Center instructors and it is already used as a coursebook at Çukurova University, TÖMER (Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language and Research Center). The second book Yedi İklim was prepared by Yunus Emre Institute. The books selected for the research are composed of A1-A2 (Basic), B1-B2 (Intermediate) and C1 +(Advanced) levels. The book series that we examined were designed according to the appropriate language levels based on Common European Language Framework (CEFR) criteria and constructed according to communicative and student-centered approaches. In our study, we mainly focused on cultural interaction, cultural transfer, various culture items and culture codes delivered in the books by which the main important features of Turkish society and culture are presented. The aim of the study is to find out our cultural values instantiated in the books which are used to teach Turkish as a foreign language, evaluate them and suggesting some ideas for further studies..