Examination of the Post-Graduation Turkish Proficiency Levels of Secondary Education Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language: The Case of Iraq

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the post-graduation language status of secondary school students learning Turkish as a foreign language in Iraq and to determine the factors affecting the progress or deterioration in their language levels, if any. For this purpose, the desired language status of these people; they were evaluated according to gender, age groups and professions. Factors affecting the progress and decline in language levels were determined and listed according to the degree of impact. The research was conducted with the quantitative research method and the design of the study is a case study. Information was collected by semi-structured survey method, and descriptive scanning and relational scanning models were preferred among general scanning models in the study. The sample of the study consists of graduates who learned Turkish as a foreign language in schools in the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq between 1997 and 2022. A total of 414 people, 196 women and 218 men, participated in the research. The current language status of the participants and the factors that caused the improvement and deterioration of their Turkish language skills were determined according to the determined variables and the obtained values are; it was tried to be analyzed with the help of figures, tables and graphs. As a result, it has been observed that students who learned Turkish as a foreign language in Iraq reached a successful language level after graduation and improved their language skills at a significant rate after graduation. There are almost no studies on the language status of students who have completed their foreign language education, graduated and started business life. This makes this study very important and it will be one of the first important studies and resources in this field. More research needs to be done on the language status of students after graduation. Keywords: Foreign language Turkish, language after graduation, foreign language levels, language attrition, language development.