Examination of story books used in teaching Turkish to foreigners according to cultural elements and reading achievements (PIKTES Salih Story Series and YEE Children's Stories Series)

In the instruction of Turkish to foreign learners, storybooks not only aid students in developing language skills but also assist in comprehending Turkish culture and grasping cultural nuances within language usage. Furthermore, alignment of these storybooks with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) reading attainments is crucial to achieve language teaching objectives. This study examines the utilization of cultural elements and CEFR A1 and A2 level reading attainments in storybooks prepared for teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The main research question focuses on the extent to which storybooks (Yunus Emre Institute Children's Stories and PIKTES Salih Story Series) for foreign learners of Turkish incorporate CEFR A1 and A2 level reading attainments and cultural elements. The significance of this research lies in providing students with new reading materials and facilitating effective cultural teaching through stories. This research employs a qualitative methodology, conducting document analysis to examine collected data. The content analysis method is utilized to scrutinize the transferred cultural elements and the frequency of reading attainments within the examined story sets. The study concludes that both series encompass a substantial number of cultural aspects specific to Turkish culture, contributing to enhancing students' cultural awareness. Among the frequently encountered cultural elements in both sets, aspects of daily life are prominent. In the PIKTES Salih Story Series (A1 - A2), a total of 130 cultural elements are identified across storybooks, while the YEE Children's Story Series (A1 - A2) contains 272 cultural elements. The distribution of cultural elements within the storybooks is uneven, with certain attainments being emphasized more than others. This suggests a need for balanced emphasis on various attainments to provide comprehensive language and cultural education to foreign learners of Turkish. The selection of appropriate materials for Turkish language instruction is crucial, particularly in enhancing language learning and cultural awareness among students. This research contributes to Turkish language and culture teaching by offering more effective and culturally rich materials to foreign students learning Turkish.