A Review of Articles on Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language: Methodological Trends

With the increasing need for language learning in the world, teaching Turkish as a foreign language is becoming more and more important every day. This situation requires a meticulous examination of all academic studies on teaching Turkish as a foreign language. In this context, the aim of this study is to examine the studies published between 2018 and 2022 in two important journals that publish articles on teaching Turkish as a foreign language, “International Journal of Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language” and “Hacettepe University Journal of Turkish as a Foreign Language” according to their years, subjects, methods, sample/study group, data collection tools and data analysis techniques. In this descriptive survey model study, data were collected through document analysis, one of the qualitative research techniques, and analyzed by descriptive analysis method. In the study, the data from the last 63 articles published in “International Journal of Turkish Teaching as a Foreign Language” and “Hacettepe University Journal of Turkish as a Foreign Language” between 2018-2022 were analyzed in accordance with the form created. The form prepared by the researchers in the study included the year, subject, method, sample/study group, data collection tools and data analysis techniques. According to the results of the study, it is seen that the studies related to the field gain weight in qualitative method; research design, data collection tool and data analysis technique are shaped in this direction. It was seen that the most studied topics in the articles were foreign language learning process, language, culture and learning concepts, and the data were mostly collected from Turkish learning centers in Turkey. It was determined that the studies in “International Journal of Turkish Teaching as a Foreign Language” and “Hacettepe University Journal of Turkish as a Foreign Language Research” were generally based on document analysis and there was a lack of quantitative, mixed and applied studies. Suggestions were made regarding the findings obtained within the scope of the study.