Examination of cultural elements in Turkish reading for foreigners: Yenisey example of Turkish reading books for foreigners

Language is an important tool that reflects the values, thoughts, social and cultural relations of a nation. For this reason, language teaching should not be limited to sentence structure, vocabulary and rules. It is of great importance to transfer culture in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. Because language and culture are closely related. It is not possible to think of language as independent from the culture of the society to which it belongs. The absence of culture transfer in teaching Turkish as a foreign language will make it difficult for learners and instructors. Because the full learning of a language is directly related to the transfer of culture. Therefore, it is of great importance to include all elements of culture in the process of teaching Turkish as a foreign language. Culture transfer is done through textbooks and reading books. The inclusion of cultural elements in the books used is important for culture transfer. There must be cultural elements in the books and these elements must be evenly distributed. Identifying the cultural elements in the books is important in terms of organizing them according to the needs and eliminating the deficiencies. Determining how often cultural elements are included in the books according to language levels and which cultural elements are included in the books is useful in terms of ensuring the unity of language and culture, improving communication skills and cultural awareness, increasing motivation and perceiving the social dimension of the language. Based on this benefit, studies examining cultural elements in Turkish reading books for foreigners have been conducted. Such studies examining cultural elements in reading books should be conducted more frequently and the cultural elements in the books should be determined. In this study, in order to contribute to the above-mentioned vii necessity, Yenisey (A1-A2-B1-B1-B2-C1-C2) Turkish for foreigners reading books were examined with a qualitative case study based on the research question "What are the cultural elements in Yenisey Turkish for foreigners reading books used in teaching Turkish as a foreign language?". The data were collected through document analysis and analyzed through content analysis. As a result of the study, it was determined that cultural elements were included in different areas in the books. In the basic level reading book, cultural elements were mostly related to touristic and historical places, food, economic life and professions; cultural elements were mostly related to proverbs, beverages and religious elements. In the intermediate level reading book, cultural elements were mostly related to touristic and historical places, values, food and visual arts; cultural elements were mostly related to proverbs, music/musical instruments/folk dances and Turkish customs. In the advanced level reading book, cultural elements were mostly found in values, economic life, occupation and visual arts; the least cultural elements were found in proverbs, interpersonal communication, national sports and beverages. It was concluded that the number of cultural elements in reading books differed according to language levels and that these elements differed according to language levels. However, cultural elements such as touristic and historical places, economic life, food, and values were more common in all levels of reading books. It is thought that it would be useful to give enough space to different cultural elements in reading books.