The Transmission of Socio-Cultural Codes in Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

Abstract

Having a deep historical background and literary tradition, Turkish language has been a major language of culture and civilization. The power and rich culture of the Turkish nation has affected the language; therefore, Turkish language has survived throughout very different and wide areas. Learning and teaching of Turkish language which is the transporter and transmitter of Turkish culture/id has a major significance in terms of maintenance of Turkish culture. Especially, teaching the people who are especially alien to the Turkish culture Turkish language requires more extensive studies. Turkish has been begun to be taught as a foreign language hundred years ago and in this particular, a lot of qualified courses have been given to the learner. It is observed that there have been important improvements in the teaching of Turkish to the foreign learners in recent years. The increase of the centers where Turkish language is taught, in either domestic areas or foreign areas, the diversity of sources prepared for the teaching of Turkish, and other studies for this field confirm this view. In this study, by emphasizing the necessity of cultural transmission through the teaching of Turkish language as a second language, it has been discussed which cultural elements should be transmitted in this process, and the significance of integrity of language teaching and cultural transmission has been emphasized.