Abstract

This study explored the perceptions of student teachers about Teaching Turkish to Foreigners (TTF) course offered as a part of the Turkish teacher training program which aims to educate pre-service Turkish language teachers. In the study, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire and interview from student teachers enrolled in Turkish language teacher training program at two state universities in Turkey in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years. The aim of the questionnaire was to identify 326 student teachers’ perceptions about the TTF course that intends to provide student teachers with the necessary professional development needed in the field of teaching Turkish as a foreign language (TFL). The focus group interview, carried out with 10 volunteering student teachers, aimed at gathering more in-depth data in terms of gaining needed professional teaching skills regarding TFL. In order to triangulate the data, besides the questionnaire and interview, document analysis was applied in the survey. The questionnaire results revealed that student teachers are partially satisfied with the outcomes of the course. Related to the interview results, regarding the practice component of the course, majority of the student teachers expressed their views about the necessity of actual teaching opportunities and more teaching hours of the course. Overall, the results revealed that student teachers need less theory teaching, and more students’ involvement in the teaching-learning process of the TTF classes.

Key words: Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language, student teachers’ professional needs, curriculum and evaluation.