GRADED READERS: A NEW PATH FOR LEARNERS OF TURKISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Year 2019, Volume: 170 Issue: 1, 6 - 24, 28.02.2019

Ebru Şenyiğit

Abstract

Within last decades Turkish as a foreign language (TFL)
started to be seen as the field in great demand regarding the
recent sociological and political issues in the world. So far a lot
of research has been done on designing Turkish coursebooks,
improving teaching materials but almost no concern has been
paid for extensive reading materials for such learners after
completing levels of learning. At this point graded readers
are thought to be a supplementary source to satisfy the
requirements of learners seeking other opportunities to master
on Turkish. Basing on these facts, the study aims to inquire
about the views of learners regarding the need of graded
reader. As a research instrument, a survey with qualitative and
quantitative properties assessing 30 participants’ responses
is designed by taking experts’ opinions. One third of the
participants are also interviewed for clarifying their responses
to the research items. The results basing on the findings show
that the participants need further supplementary sources
as an extensive reading material especially graded readers
for comprehending the structure of Turkish and its cultural
elements, besides another point derived from the data is that
the growing interest in recognition of Turkish literature works. 

Keywords

Turkish as a Foreign Language, Reading Skills, Graded Readers, Literary Works, foreign language, reading

GRADED READERS: A NEW PATH FOR LEARNERS OF TURKISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Abstract

Within last decades Turkish as a foreign language (TFL)
started to be seen as the field in great demand regarding the
recent sociological and political issues in the world. So far a lot
of research has been done on designing Turkish coursebooks,
improving teaching materials but almost no concern has been
paid for extensive reading materials for such learners after
completing levels of learning. At this point graded readers
are thought to be a supplementary source to satisfy the
requirements of learners seeking other opportunities to master
on Turkish. Basing on these facts, the study aims to inquire
about the views of learners regarding the need of graded
reader. As a research instrument, a survey with qualitative and
quantitative properties assessing 30 participants’ responses
is designed by taking experts’ opinions. One third of the
participants are also interviewed for clarifying their responses
to the research items. The results basing on the findings show
that the participants need further supplementary sources
as an extensive reading material especially graded readers
for comprehending the structure of Turkish and its cultural
elements, besides another point derived from the data is that
the growing interest in recognition of Turkish literature works.

Keywords

Yabancı Dil Olarak Türkçe, Okuma Becerisi, Seviyeli Okuma Kitapları, Edebi Eserler, okuma, yabancı dil

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