CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN TEACHING TURKISH AS A

SECOND LANGUAGE

Özay KARADAĞ, Ph.D.

Düzce University Education Faculty

Present Situation in Teaching Turkish as a Second Language

There isn’t any complete and qualified curriculum prepared for teaching Turkish as a second language.

Present teaching activities are made by adapting teaching materials and programs prepared for teaching English into teaching Turkish as a second language.

In recent years, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assesment is the frame of reference for Turkish Educational Centers.

“ Educational system is parallel to Language criteria and levels of European Community” says the web page of Yunus Emre Institute of Turkish Educational Center. (http://yee.org.tr/turkiye/tr/yetem/turkce-kurslari-2)

In presentation of “New Hittits, Turkish For Foreigners” sets, Ankara University TOMER explains that “profeciency and experience of TOMER over 20 years; which is the center of Turkish and foreign language practises and research in Ankara University, is a product of combining itself with contemporary language teaching measures of European community.”(http://tomer.ankara.edu.tr)

In web pages of institutes which give Turkish language education to foreigners, any secondary language teaching curriculum which is prepared according to “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.”

It cannot be claimed that there is a common approch to teaching Turkish to foreigners.

Kara (2011) prepared, in accordance with Common European Framework of reference for Languages, a “Turkish Educational Curriculum in A1-A2 Levels for Foreigners who are learning Turkish.”

Solution:“A Curriculumbased on “Common European Framework of reference for Languages for Teaching Turkish.”

It is necessary that a need analysis be done in order to prepare this curriculum.

Needs analyses in academic level are very limited to teaching Turkish as a second language.

These are avaliable studies:

Balçıkanlı, C. (2010). A Study on needs analysis of learners of Turkish language. Sino-US English Teaching, 7(1).

It is done in order to gather information on the needs of students learning Turkish in European Study Center in Florida University. It gives a general viewpoint and doesn’t have any detailed information about the subject matter, as it based on only viewpoints of nine participants .

Çalışkan, N. ve Bayraktar, S. (2012). A Need Analysis About Teaching Turkish To Foreigners: An Example from Yunus Emre Turkish Culture Center in Cairo. VII. International Turkish Language Congress, 24-28th September, Ankara.

In the research, data is gathered from language learning needs of 146 students from different learning courses based on 11 questions which have a sociolinguistic quality.

Koçer, Ö. (2013).The first step of curriculum development: A need and situation analysis in Turkish Education as a foreign language. Eğitim ve Bilim, 38(169), 159-174.In Turkish Education Center (TOMER), the variability of YDT students’ needs are explored in the light of data gathered from the observations about 40 young-adult students who are learning Turkish (YDT), and answers of students given to open-ended questions and results of a review between two teachers of YDT.

Çalışkan, N. & Çangal, Ö. (2013). Language need analysis in teaching Turkish to foreigners: An example of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 13(2), 310-334. It is done by reaching 168 students who are learning Turkish in two sections in Yunus Emre Culture Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A questionnaire which was adapted from the study called Japanese Language Need Analysis Iwai (1998), and consisted of two parts is used. Turkish learning needs of students were grouped under four sections which are: trade, education and business opportunity, personal needs and interests, and communication in classrooms.

Curriculum Development in Language Teaching(Richards, 2001)

A. The origins of language curriculum development.

Language curriculum development deals with the following questions:

1. What procedures can be used to determine the content of a language program?

2. What are learners’ needs?

3. How can learners’ needs be determined?

4. What contextual factors need to be concidered in planning a language program?

5. What is the nature of aims and objectives in teaching and how can these be developed?

6. What factors are involved in planning the syllabus and the units of organization in a course?

7. How can good teaching be provided in a program?

8. What issues are involved in selecting, adapting and designing instructional materials?

9. How can one measure the effectiveness of language program?

Vocabulary selection.Grammar selection and gradation.Assumptions underlying early approaches

to syllabus design

B. From syllabus design to curriculum developmentThe quest for new methodsChanging needs for foreign languages in

Europe and the world

III. Need AnalysisWhat is The Purpose of Need Analysis?What Are The Needs?What Is the Target Population?

IV. Situation AnalysisSocial FactorsInstitutional FactorsStudent FactorsAdaption Factors

V. Target and Planning Learning OutcomesThe Ideology of CurriculumDetermining Outcomes of Curriculum

VI. Course Planning and Designing SyllabusExplanation of the CourseIdentifying Entry and Exit LevelsChoosing Course ContentDetermining Course Scope and SequencePlanning Course Structure

VII. Providing Effective TeachingInstituteTeachersTeaching and Learning Process

VIII. Role and Description Of Instructional MaterialsCreated Materials Versus Authentic OnesTextbooksEvaluating TextbooksAdapting TextbooksPreparing materials for a SyllabusManaging Production/Creation of MaterialMonitoring Usage of Materials

IX. Evaluation ApproachesEvaluation Purposes

-Formative Evaluation

-Enlightening Evaluation

-Summative EvaluationProcedures Used In Conducting Evaluation

How Can A Short-Term Course Be Built For Students Who Have Inadequency In Turkish?

Description of Matter:

-Some of the students who are at primary grade don’t have adequete Turkish to succeed in literacy education.

Limitations:

-Turkish preparatorycourses or elementary literacy education; which will be given to the students who have inadequency in Turkish, should be a short-term and effective. The period and effectiveness of these courses are necessary for equality of opportunity.

-Primary grade students who don’t know Turkish and/or don’t have enough Turkish for primary grade.

*What is the distribution of students on cities and schools?

*What are the level differences among students?

*What level some students are at in Turkish vocabulary?

*Which words should be primarily taught to these children?

*Which grammatical features should be acquired functionally?

NEED ANLYSISWhat Is Target Population?

What Are Needs of Target Population? How Can the Needs of Target Population Be

Determined?

-It is difficult to determined the needs in such a situation. For this reason, need analysis should be done by sociolinguistic model of Munby (1978). This model bases on gathering data about students rather than gathering data from students. Solution of sociolinguistic variables can be done by this model.

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Turkish limitations of students can depend on many variables. For this reason, in designing and planning Turkish preparation programs for these students, external factors should be taken into consideration as well.

Richards (2001:91) suggests that situation analysis; which means analysis of external factors, should be done in developing mentioned syllabus.

Social Activities

*Family types *Family perception about child and childhood

*Meanings attributed to children in family

*Economical ConditionsInstitutional Factors

*Ministry *National Education Management

*School Managements *InspectorsTeacher factors

*Teachers’ Tendencies Towards Assumed SyllabusStudent factorsAdaption Factors

Aims And Planning Learning Outcomes

Ideology of syllabus

*Equality of opportunity –providing all students in the country having education right.

Determining outcomes of syllabus

*Determining outcomes which will be gained with this syllabus

Explanation of the course

Identifying entry and exit levels

Choosing course content

Determining scope and squence of course

Planning course structure

Course Planning And Designing syllabus

Providing Effective TeachingInstitution

*Institutional factors in applying syllabus

Teachers

*Teachers training in order to make syllabus effective

Teaching and learning process

*Monitoring teaching and learning process in applying syllabus.

Designing Instructional Materials

Preparing materials for new syllabusConducting material creation/writing

*Experienced teachers should be necessarily added into this process.TextbooksEvaluating textbooksAdapting textbooksMonitoring material usages

EVALUATION

Evaluating the outcomes of syllabusEvaluative approaches

*Formative evaluation

*Enlightening evaluation

*Summative evaluation.