Arab-Origin Students’ Experiences of Learning Turkish: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to consider the Turkish learning situations of the 16 Arab-origin students learning Turkish at TÖMER subordinate to a state university in the Aegean region from the perspectives of both students and the teachers who teach them Turkish and investigate their language learning experiences from many perspectives. In order to achieve this goal, a qualitative research method was used. Data were collected from the participating students and lecturers through semi-structured interviews. The method of content analysis was used in the data analysis. Based on the findings obtained in the data analysis, it was concluded that the students stated that; they learnt Turkish to study at a university and because they had to live in Turkey; they had the most difficulty in the writing skill; they found the Turkish lessons difficult due to the different language structure and alphabet. On the other hand, the participating lecturers stated that; the students had difficulties in writing; they used Turkish by having conversations with Turkish native speakers and at work; the mistakes they made the most were suffix and spelling mistakes, and in order to solve these problems, they got the students to play concept games, and had lessons in different places outside the classroom by getting the students to do a lot of practice.