An Evaluation on the Education of Turkish Language in Australia

Abstract

The level and rate of learning the mother tongue of individuals whose mother tongue is different from the language of the society they live is not the same compared to people who learn their mother tongue in their homeland. Turkish people who live in abroad, have to study more in order to learn Turkish compared to people in Turkey. The language students learn who live in abroad and the language they use in their homes may negatively affect either their success in their lessons or the relationships they have with people who speak the same mother tongue. It is expected from students who live in abroad to be academically successful and build healthy relationships and to learn their mother tongue as well as the language they are educated in order to sustain their culture. Providing opportunity to learn their mother tongue in schools they receive education live positively affects their success. It is extremely important especially in multi-cultured societies. Countries which adopt multi-culturalism also give importance to mother tongue education. Australia, which is a multi-cultured country, provides opportunity for different societies to learn their mother tongue. Certain hours in schools is spared for migrants to learn their mother tongue. Australia prepared and executed Turkish curriculum in 2005. In this paper, Turkish curriculum being applied in the state of Victoria in Australia was evaluated and obtained data were compared in accordance with the purpose, approach and grammar that is applied in Turkey. On the basis of this purpose, the research was conducted with document analysis among qualitative research methods. As a result, it was concluded that Turkish curriculum in Australia is prepared in order to develop metacognitive skills and corresponds to constructivist approach that is being applied in Turkey since 2005.