The Impressions of International Higher Education Alumni about Turkish Language and Turkey in the Context of Big and Small Cities / Büyük ve Küçük Şehir Bağlamında Uluslararası Yükseköğretim Mezunlarının Türkiye ve Türkçe İzlenimleri

Sümeyye Konuk

doi:10.19160/e-ijer.924649

EN TR

The Impressions of International Higher Education Alumni about Turkish Language and Turkey in the Context of Big and Small Cities / Büyük ve Küçük Şehir Bağlamında Uluslararası Yükseköğretim Mezunlarının Türkiye ve Türkçe İzlenimleri

Abstract

In the last three years, in terms of the presence of international students in higher education, Turkey has become one of the top 10 countries in the world. This study aims at finding the reasons that make Turkey attractive for international students. With this aim, (1) reasons for country choice, (2) reasons for city choice, (3) Turkish learning experiences and (4) advantages and disadvantages of social and educational life experienced by alumni were investigated comparatively in the context of a big city and a small city. Data were obtained by conducting interviews with 42 international alumni who had completed their studies in Turkey and went back to their countries. The results indicated that scholarships supported by the Turkish state had the highest popularity in attracting international student mobility. The other reasons for selecting Turkey were educational opportunities, religious affinity, cultural affinity, and inexpensiveness. Istanbul was perceived as a crowded city that provides space for individual freedom and plenty of personal development, while Edirne was perceived as an inexpensive and calm city, and this calmness made internationals stand out. The alumni who studied in Turkish-medium departments stated negative opinions about the quality of Turkish language teaching and teachers at language preparation classes, while the alumni who studied in English-medium departments found Turkish teaching sufficient. While learning the Turkish language, the alumni had problems with Turkish suffixes, vocalizing letters like ü and ö, diffidence, inability to develop ideas because of thinking about how to say things, and limited mobile application material support. The advantages and disadvantages of social and educational life and other results of the study were discussed in the context of the international literature.

Keywords

Büyük ve Küçük Şehir Bağlamında Uluslararası Yükseköğretim Mezunlarının Türkiye ve Türkçe İzlenimleri / The Impressions of the Higher Education International Graduates for Turkish Language and Turkey in The Context of Big and Small City

Öz

Son üç yıldır Türkiye, yükseköğretimde uluslararası öğrencilerin varlığı açısından dünyanın ilk 10 ülkesinden biri hâline gelmiştir. Bu çalışma, Türkiye'yi uluslararası öğrenciler için cazip kılan olası nedenleri bulmak için uluslararası mezunların (1) ülke seçimi nedenleri (2) şehir seçimi nedenleri (3) Türkçe öğrenme deneyimleri, (4) mezunların sosyal ve eğitim hayatlarında yaşadığı avantaj ve dezavantajları büyük ve küçük bir şehir bağlamında karşılaştırmalı olarak ele almıştır. Veriler Türkiye'de eğitimini tamamlayıp ülkelerine dönen 42 uluslararası mezun ile görüşmeler yapılarak elde edilmiştir. Sonuçlar, Türkiye tarafından desteklenen bursların uluslararası öğrenci hareketliliğini çekmede en büyük paya sahip olduğunu göstermektedir. Mezunların Türkiye seçiminin diğer nedenleri ise eğitim olanakları, dini yakınlık, kültürel yakınlık ve ucuzluktur. Mezunlar tarafından İstanbul bireysel özgürlüğe, kişisel gelişime alan açan kalabalık bir şehir olarak algılanırken, Edirne ucuz ve sakin bir şehir olarak algılanmakta ve bu sakinlik uluslararası bireyleri ön plana çıkarabilmektedir. Eğitim dili Türkçe olan bölümlerde öğrenim gömüş mezunlar hazırlık sınıflarındaki Türkçe öğretimi ve öğretmenlerin niteliği hakkında olumsuz görüşler belirtirken, eğitim dili İngilizce olan bölümlerden mezun olanlar olumlu görüş bildirerek Türkçe öğretimini yeterli bulmuşlardır. Dil öğrenirken, mezunlar Türkçe ekler, ü ve ö gibi harfleri seslendirme, çekingenlik, nasıl söyleneceğini düşünmekten dolayı fikir geliştirememe ve sınırlı mobil uygulamadan kaynaklı materyal eksikliği sorunları yaşamışlardır. Uluslararası mezunların sosyal ve eğitim hayatlarında yaşadığı avantaj ve dezavantajlar ile çalışmanın diğer sonuçları uluslararası literatür bağlamında tartışılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Studies on Education

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Sümeyye Konuk ^*
0000-0003-0896-0711
Türkiye

Publication Date

October 31, 2021

Submission Date

April 21, 2021

Acceptance Date

October 6, 2021

Published in Issue

Year 2021 Volume: 12 Number: 4

DOI

https://doi.org/10.19160/e-ijer.924649

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA86YF38LB

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Konuk, S. (2021). The Impressions of International Higher Education Alumni about Turkish Language and Turkey in the Context of Big and Small Cities / Büyük ve Küçük Şehir Bağlamında Uluslararası Yükseköğretim Mezunlarının Türkiye ve Türkçe İzlenimleri. E-Uluslararası Eğitim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 12(4), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.19160/e-ijer.924649

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