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TEACHING
TURKISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND |
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M.
Sani ADIGÜZEL |
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Over 3000 languages are
spoken in the world. Along with all its dialects, Turkish ranks among the
first most widely spoken three or so languages. Being second only to
English among the other languages in terms of area of commonness, Turkish
is a leading spoken and written form of language which foreigners, as in
the past, take increasingly more interest in, owing to its 1500-year
continuous and comprehensive history. The method employed by
foreigners in learning and teaching Turkish has been Grammar Translation
Method. This method, by virtue of its nature, involves a standard learners
lot with the same mother tongue. As a natural result of this, studies
based on Grammar Translation Method are named after the nation or country
which the target lot on whom this method is employed belong to: Teaching
Turkish to the Germans, Teaching German to the Turks, Teaching Turkish to
the Australians etc. Nevertheless, the same is not true for the Direct
Method, naturally directed towards teaching a heterogeneous group of
learners, with different native languages. Thus it can be concluded that
the efficient method for a linguistically homogenous group is Grammar
Translation Method and the suitable one for a heterogeneous one is Direct
Method. In selecting a method, the teacher is also the determinant, as is the case with the learners group. Proper employment of Grammar Translation Method requires not only a standard learners lot but also a standard type of teachers. In the present study it is suggested that in teaching Turkish as a foreign language at the adult level, the most efficient method is Grammar Translation Method, if supported with adequate reinforcement drills. |
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