“Teaching Turkish to Foreigners” as a language policy

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Atıf İçin Kopyala

Gülmez B.

The 5th International Conference on Language, Literature and Culture, Burdur, Türkiye, 12 - 14 Mayıs 2016, ss.4

• Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
• Basıldığı Şehir: Burdur
• Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
• Sayfa Sayıları: ss.4
• Erzincan Binali Yıldırım Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

 “Teaching Turkish to Foreigners” as a language policy

Recep GÜLMEZ[1]        Bilge GÜLMEZ[2]

“Teaching Turkish to Foreigners” is currently popular since Turkey is an emerging country in the continent with its foreign policy and targets to attract thousands of foreigners. Turkey wants to join European Union which requires respect for lesser used languages and respect for multilingualism in Europe. “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages” states that multilingualism should be in consistency with national laws and practices.

The Sun-Language theory and Turkish history thesis have always been the language policy since the declaration of the Republic. When the Justice and Development country came into power, Turkey plotted a new language policy regarding Turkish and ignored the Sun-Language theory. It covers bits and pieces of Islamic identity, is no more nationalist and monist and the government aims to make it popular by means of its cultural propaganda. For that reason. Public Diplomacy Coordination Office has been founded, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency has still been active even in the far end of Africa and last but not least Yunus Emre Institute strives to teach Turkish language and culture all over the world in accordance with current government policy. Since 2002, the current government has followed a liberal policy and stated that Turkish will be a world language. Teaching Turkish to Foreigners constitutes the linguistic policy of the government. In the present study, we aim to discuss whether “Teaching Turkish to Foreigners” could be an alternative to the Sun-Language theory and if it is a new language policy. We will examine this subject from sociologic and political perspectives.

 

Key Words: Teaching Turkish to Foreigners, Second Language, Sun-Language Theory, Language Policy