Errors in Case Markers Made by Syrian Students Who Learn Turkish in Temporary Education Center

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the errors in case markers in the texts formed by Syrian students, who learn Turkish as a foreign language. The study group of this research, which is designed as a case study, comprises of a total of 60 Syrian students in A1 and A2 level, studying in the temporary education center of Al-Nassaj, which is affiliated with the district of Antakya, Hatay. The determination of the levels of the students was based on the description of the linguistic competences proposed by The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). A placement test was administered to the students in line with the description proposed by the CEFR, and a total of 30 students in A1 and 30 students in A2 were included to the study. A personal information form as well as writing forms, which had been developed by the researchers, were employed in the data collection. The analysis of the data obtained from the writing forms was performed through descriptive analysis method. An evaluation meeting was held with a faculty member specialized in the field of Turkish education in order to ensure the reliability of the data, and a consensus has been reached on the data.

The study revealed that in terms of the total number of words used by the students, the students in A1 made 8 errors in case markers for each 100 words whereas those in A2 made 9.3 errors in case markers for each 100 words. It is remarkable that the students in A1 made the most errors in the genitive case markers whereas those in A2 made the most errors in locative case markers. There was no error in the ablative case markers in the texts produced by the students in A1. The study further found that the number of such errors made by the students in A2 was very low.