Innovation in Language Learning

Textbook Writing to Teach Turkish as a Second Language for Young Learners: The Case of Syrian Refugees

Seda Bütün

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University

Turkey

[email protected]

Turkey has been hosting the largest number of refugees in the world since 2011 in which Syrian war began. The report (2016) of United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner shows that the grand total of refugees is 2.450.000 people, 162.600 of whom are children. For the last five years, access to formal or non-formal/informal education for the Syrian children has expanded. Moreover, Turkish language programs have been started in order to facilitate social integration of children and adults. Thus, in the case of Syrian young learners whose Turkish learning is of utmost importance, studies should be done and strategies for textbook writing should be developed. The purpose of this study was to investigate how to write textbooks to teach Turkish as a second language for young learners. The study used a case study design, since the main motive was to explore the needs in terms of language learning of Syrian young learners. Data was collected through triangulation of multiple data collection methods. The following research questions were investigated throughout the study: 1) What is the most important criteria in textbook writing for young learners? 2) What should be the level of using literacy skills on textbooks? 3) Which skills of language (reading, writing, listening and speaking) should be highlighted more? 4) To what extent should the audio-visual material be used?

Keywords: Turkish as a second language for young learners, teaching Turkish as a second language for young learners, textbook writing, designing material.