Author:
Abstract
Keywords
Abstract
A piece of important information that those interested in learning a foreign language and language teaching specialists who will prepare a program for teaching a foreign language should know is the number of course hours required to learn that language. Teaching hours are available for languages such as English, French, and Spanish. However, no foreign language teaching institution other than the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the American Federal Government has attempted to design a program for teaching Turkish as a foreign language and determine the number of hours required for its teaching. This study was conducted to obtain information about the number of hours required to teach Turkish as a foreign language to different learner groups based on the programs prepared by language teaching experts whose mother tongue is Turkish. The research was designed as descriptive, and a scanning model was used. The data were obtained by visiting the websites of language education institutions on the internet. In addition, the opinions of 10 experts working in 5 prestigious institutions teaching Turkish as a foreign language in Turkey were received via e-mail. Findings determined that those who teach Turkish as a foreign language do not offer programs according to the learners at the end; they teach Turkish at different hours. Considering the expert opinions and the programs of universally accepted language institutions, three different programs with different hours have been proposed for teaching Turkish as a foreign language, learners of Turkish dialects, and nearby geographies.