Review of the textbooks prepared for teaching Turkish to foreigners

One of the most important materials needed in teaching Turkish to foreigners is the textbooks. When these books are not qualified, we may have a trouble in reaching the desired target in language teaching. Evaluating the textbooks used in teaching Turkish to foreigners both in form and content is main objective of this thesis. From this point of view, my thesis study aims to examine four different textbooks (Yedi İklim Türkçe A-1, Yeni Hitit Yabancılar İçin Türkçe Ders Kitabı 1-Temel, Yabancılar İçin Türkçe Gazi A-1, İstanbul Yabancılar İçin Türkçe Ders KitabıA-1) that have been mostly preferred and used in Turkish educational centers and to assess them in terms of form and content characteristics. In the study, mixed method was used and data were collected from three different sources: In the first phase of my study, a 34-item survey was prepared for Turkish course instructors for foreigners. This application is for assessing the functionality and content of the book of forms and features. For this survey, we reached a total of 324 instructors in the Turkish educational centers in Turkey and abroad. In the second phase, my aim is only to assess the formal properties of the textbooks in question. A 9-item survey has been prepared for this purpose. For this survey, I collected data from press-publishers in commercial organizations, material and graphic-designers, and academics working in this field. This second phase consists of a sample group of 60 people. In the third phase, I used my own observations during the interviews with the instructors in practice. For this purpose, these interviews were conducted according to the constructivist approach and were recorded in the interview forms for the analysis. For the reliability of the validity of the surveys, I used "factor analysis", "test-retest" methods. All the reliability and validity test results was found to be affirmative for the surveys. The quantitative and qualitative data obtained through these phase of study were framed, discussed and concluded in accordance with the logic of the mixed methods in an holistic approach. In the conclusion, I discussed the adequate qualities of textbooks used/ to be used in the Turkish education for foreigners in terms of form and content characteristics, especially with reference to the contemporary scientific criteria. I ended the thesis with a series of suggestions, depending on the results obtained through my research, for the researchers, book authors, editors and course instructors in this field of teaching Turkish to foreigners.