Analysis of problems encountered by instructors teaching Turkish as a foreign language to Syrian children and their opinions on their participation in the certification program for teaching Turkish as a foreign language

Abstract

This study seeks to determine the problems faced by the Turkish instructors serving in the primary education institutions and camps within the framework of the project PICTES in teaching Turkish as a foreign language to Syrian students and to provide insights into their opinions on their participation in the certification program for teaching Turkish as a foreign language created by Turkish Language Teaching, Research and Application Centre (TÖMER). Following a qualitative research model, this case study employs purposive sampling and there are 25 Turkish instructors serving in the city of Mersin and Adana in the sample of the study. The data are collected through personal information forms and interview forms. The data are analyzed by means of content analysis, using QDA (Qualitative Data Analysis) Miner Lite program. The analysis yields 14 themes and 37 codes grouped under these 14 themes. The results of this study are mostly congruent with previous research in the literature; the study concludes that most of the instructors do not benefit from instructional technologies and that the certification program created by TÖMER is not useful at the desired level in helping instructors use teaching methods and techniques.