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I think, this report can be useful for Turkish language teachers. You can find the complete report in Internet.
LANGUAGE LEARNING FRAMEWORK FOR TURKISH*
Chair Güliz Kuruoğlu, UCLA
Methodology Grammar Literature Culture
Ayla Algar, Engin Sezer, Sibel Erol, Ralph Jaeckel
UC Berkeley Harvard Washington U. UCLA
TURKISH CULTURE IN THE TURKISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM:
Preliminary Considerations.27
27 The general principles and strategies for teaching cultural understanding have been set forth
effectively in Hadley (1993) Teaching Language in Context. (Boston: Heinle& Heinle). p. 353-411, and in
The Teaching of French, (1989 AATF National Bulletin, V.15). The remarks here focus on the particular
problems teachers of Turkish face in teaching Turkish culture, the perspectives from which they might
proceed, some suggestions for questions they might address, and the types of sources they might consult
in seeking answers. Specifically what aspects of Turkish culture would be taught with what particular
lesson is beyond the province of these remarks and remains to be considered by the framework
committee.
As part of the US effort to develop nation-wide standards in all subjects,
standards are being developed for teaching the cultures associated with the less
commonly taught languages. Among these cultures is that of the Turks, and much of
that culture will be taught in courses on the Turkish language.
'Turkish culture' means the full range of learned information and behaviors
associated with the Turks of Turkey, from procedures of everyday life [styles of
communication, manners, and etiquette] all the way to what is more commonly referred
to as culture, that is, the fine arts and the humanities.
A consideration of the conditions in which Turkish is taught in US universities,
which are enumerated in the initial section of this report, lead us to the following
conclusions in regard to teaching Turkish culture within the language learning
framework for Turkish at the university level:
• There is little time to teach Turkish culture in our courses since students who
simply want to meet the university language requirements and perhaps others as well
may not continue their study of Turkish beyond the second year. That is why, in
discussions of curricula for Turkish, the writers of this report have focused their
attention on first and second year instruction. These two years, however, are crucial: if
teachers can peak their interest, students may continue their studies beyond that
sequence if courses are available or seek to broaden their knowledge outside of any
regular educational institution, even in Turkey itself.
• Teachers will have to introduce much cultural material in the first year of
Turkish, most in English, through out-of-class reading assignments and through other
media. Some assignments will be directly related to the language lessons. The Defense
Language Institute materials might serve as a model here, both in method and
content28. Each DLI language lesson has, in the accompanying workbook, a selection on
culture which may cover a broad range of topics, from the everyday, to the historical
and properly cultural. The lesson on telephone conversations explains the use of the
telephone service. Another lesson includes notes on Mevlana. In their first year of
Turkish, students would not understand explanations in Turkish on such vital matters.
Aside from readings associated with a particular language lesson, other readings in
English about Turkish culture but of a more general nature should also be assigned. The
topics they might cover are suggested below.
28Turkish Basic Course. March (199 . Validation Edition. Lessons 1-30. Monterey, CA. Defense
Language Institute.
• In the second year students can read in Turkish many authentic materials
dealing with culture on a higher level, especially in courses with a heavy emphasis on
reading. Yet at this level too reading ability is limited and outside readings directly
relevant to the class work and others of a more general nature should be assigned.
• In deciding what to teach about culture at both these levels the limited time
and small number of associated cultural courses available at the university force
teachers to be very selective. and to weigh carefully what to teach in class mostly in
Turkish and what to assign for out-of-class work. Of the out-of-class materials they
have to decide what to present in Turkish, what in English. All instructional material
must be carefully prioritized. Our out-of-class materials should be so engaging that
students will take the time to use them.
• The cultural materials should be selected considering our students'
sophistication in their own culture, their approach to other cultures in general, and their
preconceptions of Turkish culture in particular, all of which may be ascertained by
means of a course entrance questionnaire. When teachers take up a certain area of
Turkish experience, they should, when possible, relate it to a similar area in the
student's own life.
• The cultural information teachers provide should meet student needs and
desires [i.e., be learner centered], which may be ascertained with the same questionnaire
suggested above.
• The cultural information should be made available at least partly through the
media channels today's students prefer: Videos, CD's, laser disks, the Internet, etc.
Internet communication between American and Turkish students should be
encouraged.
4.4.1. Goals and Vantage Points in Teaching Turkish Culture
Before specifying further the cultural content to be taught, teachers need to
reconsider their goals for teaching Turkish culture within the language learning
framework. To formulate them in the most general way, they may want their students
• to be able to function effectively throughout Turkey with an awareness of
regional differences, that is, to be able to communicate with a variety of Turkish
speakers with the proper sensitivity,
• to understand the products of Turkish culture from Turkey and from other
areas where Turks live similar to the way in which they are understood by Turks, as
they are regarded from outside by non-Turks, and as contributions to the world cultural
scene.
• to appreciate the situation and problems of Turks living outside Turkey,
including those living in the United States.
This means teachers may provide information about Turkey and Turkish culture
from at least two main vantage points:
• that of the insider, including both that of the ordinary educated Turkish citizen
and that of the Turkish cultural elite[s], and
• that of the outsider to the Turkish world, for us in particular that of a US
citizen.
While Turkish language courses have always had a cultural content, teachers
need to reexamine that content to assess how it meets these goals and to consider what
level of cultural proficiency can and should be taught in or in association with Turkish
language classes. Each vantage point is taken up separately below.
The View from the Inside
An American student of Turkish should be aware of some part of the Turkish
cultural literacy of the ordinary educated Turkish citizen, not his cultural literacy in all
fields, but his literacy in Turkish culture proper. Our students need to know where our
Turkish friends are coming from, to know at least some of "what every Turk knows and
assumes that other Turks know, the common ground for the understanding that Turks
have among themselves", the great common denominator regardless of class. [The
quote, but with 'Turk' substituted for 'Russian' and added italics, is taken from Gerhart
197429].
This limited Turkish cultural literacy must include some of that basic body of
facts that Turks share with one another about Turks and Turkey in various fields
[geography, history, government and politics, the economy, religion, the arts: literature,
music, etc.], but also a knowledge and appreciation of cultural themes, values, main
concerns and interests, attitudes toward various issues, sensitivities, traditions,
customs, etiquette, manners, body language, gestures, habits, and patterns in personal
interactions and, of course, something of contemporary Turkish culture. It must include
facts which students would probably never learn from any of the usual assigned
reading and also not from contact with Turks alone unless they had lived in Turkey for
a long time. It must also include those aspects of Turkish culture that students find
familiar but that are in fact quite different from their own. 30
29 Genevra Gerhart. (1974). The Russian's World: Life and Language. New York: Harcourt Brace
Janovich.
30Alice Omaggio-Hadley. (1993). Teaching Language in Context. Boston:Heinle and Heinle, p. 360.
Among the study questions teachers might want their students to consider
within this cultural literacy framework are the following: From the viewpoint of a Turk:
What is a Turk? What does he regard as his duties and responsibilities, to himself, his
family, his friends and neighbors, his co-workers in the work place, his co-religionists,
the wider society, his nation? How extensive is that group which he regards as his
family? What does he regard as the duties of his family, his friends and neighbors, his
co-religionists, the wider society, the country toward him?
What are the characteristics of his personal relationships? What does he expect
from personal relationships?: What are they for, what should they yield? What is a
friend and what are his roles? How much time in a week does a Turk spend in social
activities? What is the nature of these activities? What are the characteristics of
communication between friends, between acquaintances? What are acceptable topics of
conversation between what kind of speakers under what social circumstances? What
are the relative roles of cooperation and competition between which persons or groups
under what circumstances? What are his views on the roles of the sexes? What are his
view of the relations between the sexes, between siblings, between the generations,
between families, between classes? What is his view of human nature [Are men
basically good? How far are they to be trusted? What can one expect of them]?
What is his moral orientation? What is the well lived, ideal life? What personal
qualities does he most admire? What does he see as the ideal person from a moral
perspective? Who are his role models? To what extent are his values related to Islam, to
other standards? What does he regard as the proper role of religion in life? What does
he regard as his religious duties? How does he actually practice his religion? [What part
of the population does what?] How much time does he spend in this activity? How do
his practices relate to his values? What is time well spent?
How does he view the main stages of life: birth, marriage, death? With what
observances and ceremonies does he mark these events?
What are his views on the world of work, earning a living? What for him is the
importance, value of work? What does he regard as necessary work, what as not? How
does he rank different occupations in terms of status? How does he get things done
within the structure of Turkish society? [What is the relative role of established
institutions, personal connections, etc.?] What does he feel should be the relationship
between cooperation and competition, work and leisure? What is his attitude toward
authority: to those with authority over him, to those under his authority?
How does he spend his leisure time? How and where does he spend his
vacations? What are his favorite forms of entertainment: his favorite sports and games?
Which arts does he prefer? What are his favorite TV and radio programs? What are his
tastes in art, music, literature, film, etc.?: What styles of writing does he prefer? [Note
the importance of poetry, the works most commonly referred to, recited] Who are the
favorite writers [popular, high culture canons], the best loved, most popular works?
What are his criteria for 'good literature'? What are the popular forms of music? [Songs
everyone knows, etc.] In what contexts are works of art viewed and what are the
determinants of these contexts? What does he consider funny? What are the
characteristics of Turkish humor? Where are they best exemplified?
What is the nature of his culinary world? What is the composition of his main
meals? What foods are regarded as properly eaten together, which not? What events
call for special foods/drinks? What is the nature of these special foods/drinks? What
are his favorite foods/drinks? How are they prepared? Who is associated with
preparing what? What beliefs are current regarding the efficacy of various foods/drinks
for different purposes?
How does he view his homeland Turkey? What is his relationship with its
historical past? How does he identify himself within it, with what groups? What are his
modes and styles of interaction on the political level? What are his criteria for high
status within Turkish society? How does he look upon its history, social organization,
present state, how it functions? What does he regard as the enduring social problems it
faces? Where does he think the responsibility for them lies? What possible solutions
does he see? What are Turkey's most pressing immediate concerns? How does he
regard the future of his country? What minorities does he recognize and what
characteristics and roles does he attribute to them?
What is his view of the world of nature and the environment? What are his views
on environmental issues, the use of natural resources? Who in Turkey is at present
concerned about these issues, who is not? Why?
What is his view of the world outside Turkey? How does he view Turkey in
relation to the rest of the world, what does he regard as its place in world history? How
does he characterize the other nations or peoples of the world, especially those with
which Turkey has close ties: her European neighbors, the other Turkic peoples, her
Arab neighbors, other Islamic nations, Israel, the United States? What accounts for these
views? How does he think the outside world views Turkey? What are his feelings about
these views? What does he regard as the influence/role of various countries within
Turkey? What does he see as the role of his countrymen, both Turkish workers and
intellectuals, who have left Turkey and reside abroad?
What does he regard as his place in the wider universe? What common beliefs,
religious convictions, and superstitions link him to it?
These questions are intended to be preliminary, suggestive, not exhaustive.
While many of them may be asked of any nationality, some are particularly relevant to
Turks and Turkish culture and some promote comparison of Turkish and American
cultures. It is suggested that teachers draw up such a list by brainstorming with
framework committee members and colleagues, prioritize the categories and then the
items within each. The purpose of this activity is not to derive a rigid stereotype but to
focus on important shared features, to attempt to distinguish the typical from the
atypical. One may anticipate clusters of responses reflecting various subgroups in
Turkish society, a certain level of agreement on many issues, and similarities of
approach and perspective even among Turks who do not agree on specifics. This is not
to suggest that the answers would hold for all time: they, like all culture, will change.
Teachers will focus student attention on those questions of the most enduring relevance.
Teachers should address such questions because they are constantly being asked
and because many answers, correct and more frequently incorrect, are at any rate
already in circulation, whether or not they chose to address them. More important, the
attempt to frame such questions and the search for answers will help teachers put
language teaching in a cultural context and will suggest criteria for syllabi and
instructional material.
Students should have an acquaintance with the basic culture common to most
classes in Turkey, but they should also have a sense of the perspective of the Turkish
cultural elite or elites on their own culture and of how Turkish elite culture has
developed in the modern period. Among the study questions relevant here are the
following: Who are the elites? How many major elite groupings can be discerned and
what are their characteristics? [What kind of families do the come from? How have they
achieved their elite status? What type of education do they have? What professions do
they occupy? In regard to the intellectual elites, what are their characteristics, the role
expected of them, the treatment they expect?] What changes have these elites
undergone and are they undergoing now? What is the relationship of the elites to each
other, to the other classes, to influences from abroad? What tensions exist among
different layers of Turkish society and how are they expressed? What is the relative
power of the different elites? What are their goals for Turkish society and how are they
attempting to achieve them? How are they represented by the political parties? What
are the features of Turkish elite culture? [What features with what group?] What
current issues are engaging the elite [reform, Westernization, Islamization, etc.] and
what positions are they taking toward them? What is their view of the status of the
Turkish language? [Note an important question in Turkey: What is good Turkish?]
What are the major publications of the elites? What trends do they reflect? Who are the
major writers representative of these trends? What are the features of the language they
employ?
The View from the Outside
While students of Turkish should have a feeling for the basic culture common to
most classes of Turkey and a sense of the perspective of the Turkish cultural elite[s] on
their own culture, they should also be aware of how Turkey, the Turks, and Turkish
culture have been regarded outside Turkey. Among the study questions relevant here
are the following: How has the world outside of Turkey regarded Turkey and her
culture at different times in history? How does it regard it today? [Of course different
areas of the world will look at Turkey differently.] What are the dominant issues that
have formed public opinion toward Turkey? For our students in particular: How have
Americans viewed Turkey? When, why, and how did American interest in Turkey
develop? What are the main features of American-Turkish relations at present? How
has the world press portrayed Turkey and Turkish culture?
Finally, from time to time, from the vantage point of both the insider and the
outsider, teachers and students may want to consider some broader, more speculative
questions: Of the vast potential for human expression which aspects has Turkish culture
actualized, emphasized? What are the reasons for these 'choices'? How do these
'choices' compare to those of our own culture? What are the contributions of Turkish
culture to world culture?
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