Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education

Multicultural education refers to educational reforms conducted to sustain a peaceful, respectful, egalitarian society that allows for the development of empathy today's increasingly pluralistic world. Multicultural education is regarded as an indispensible part of pluralistic societies. In such a context, it has become a topic of heated discussion in Turkey. As teachers are the performers of educational activities, their views on education in the mother tongue which constitute an important element of multicultural education, are highly important. The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of teachers regarding education in the mother tongue. A mixed method was used in the study. Quantitative data were obtained through the measurement of 8 items on the scale of " Teachers' Views regarding Multicultural Education ". The scale was applied to 426 teachers in Diyarbakır province of Turkey. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with 11 teachers who were determined through a purposive sampling method. The results of this study showed that teachers held positive views on education in the mother tongue and they supported education in the mother tongue although they were not fully aware of the scope of this education.

In the past several decades, educational researchers have asserted that multicultural/multilingual education is a phenomenon which certainly has come into prominence in the world of education and most schools are becoming increasingly diverse; a significant role of teacher preparation programs is to prepare its teachers with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to help all students learn. However, multicultural education and bilingual education is still a controversial issue in Turkey. The education system has not adapted to meet the needs of our increasing multiracial and multicultural populations, and research continues to be limited. Thus, both multicultural education and bilingual education in Turkey should be supporting students to show tolerance towards those with backgrounds different from their own and also focusing on the protection of each student’s cultural heritage and their mother tongue language. Thus, the purpose of the study is to investigate teachers’, students’, and academicians’ perceptions on multicultural and bilingual education, specifically, based on mother tongue education in Turkey. This qualitative research, which aims to emphasize the need of multicultural education in Turkey and the need of Kurdish language instruction in Turkey’s education systems, was conducted with 80 participants. In this study, researcher emailed 10 “open-ended questions” to participants to identify the need of multicultural and bilingual education based on mother tongue education in Turkey. Content analysis methods were utilized to analyze, interpret and assess the responses of participants to the open-ended questions. The findings of the study indicate that Turkey needs to immediately reform the education of native language and develop programs and special approaches that help improve the language deficiency of students who speak Kurdish as a mother tongue or have a limited understanding of Kurdish. This study also finds that the Turkish government should develop a multicultural curriculum that should help students, faculty, and staff to become advocates for multicultural awareness. This awareness informs the ways in which we prepare teachers, counselors, and administrators to serve all students.

Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2024

This study examines mother tongue education pedagogical discourses in Türkiye and Indonesia to address understudied language instruction policy dynamics and their practical implications in diverse educational settings. The study examined mother tongue education and its complex effects on cultural identity and educational outcomes in light of global and local linguistic landscapes. This study examined Turkish and Indonesian pedagogical discourses and classroom interactions in selected samples. Comparative written discourse analysis was performed on selected texts from Turkish and Indonesian 7th-grade secondary school textbooks. Classroom interaction was examined using in-class observations of 7th-grade secondary school students from both countries. The study used Teun van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis method for written discourse analysis and Flander's Interaction Analysis matrix for intra-class interaction patterns. The study compares written and oral secondary school pedagogical discourses in both countries using selected examples to determine their similarities and differences. This allows two large and powerful educational systems to benefit from each other. The study finds significant differences in mother tongue education program implementation and outcomes by comparing policy documents, teacher narratives, and classroom practices, highlighting the complex relationship between language policy, instructional methodology, and educational equity. The findings emphasize the need for context-sensitive language education policies that respect linguistic diversity and promote inclusive education. This research enhances mother tongue education research and provides actionable insights for educators, curriculum designers, and policymakers in Türkiye and Indonesia to promote reforms that consider learners' sociocultural and linguistic realities.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2016

In Turkey, English language learning results have been generally poor. More than a quarter of Turkish citizens and foreign residents do not speak the standard Turkish language as their native tongue. This paper evaluated the weaknesses in the current system in light of this phenomenon and linked them to the poor results in English language learning. Relevant literature on the failure of English and other language programs in Turkey and other countries with similar multilingual populations was examined. Teaching Turkish as a second language and English as an additional language and development of appropriate curricula, methods and materials were recommended.

The purpose of the current study is to offer solutions to the issues first grade students whose mother tongue is not Turkish face in elementary literacy teaching. The current research employed case study, one of qualitative research methods. The sample consisted of 40 elementary school first grade teachers chosen according to maximum variation sampling who worked in Diyarbakır city center, province centers, towns, and villages in the 2012-2013 academic year. The data was collected using semi-structured interview forms. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Frequency and percentage intervals were used in the interpretation of the data. The most frequent view (25%) reported by teachers related to mother tongue education was:" Parents should be aware of the education their children receive and they should care about the education their children receive". The 22, 5% of the teachers reported that: " Education must be in the mother tongue first and then the official language". The 17, 5% of the teachers reported that:" Students should be facilitated to speak in Turkish as well as their mother tongue before they start school". The 10% of the teachers reported that: " Education must be in the mother tongue"; however, they did not comment on how to proceed with this education. It may not be possible for students whose mother tongue is not Turkish to receive education solely in their mother tongue. Even if students receive education in their mother tongue they still need to receive education in Turkish as well, since the official language of our country is Turkish and it is used in formal procedures.

DİSA Yayınları, 2010

Beginning in the 1960s, when the political, cultural, and economic demands of various social groups began to be more strongly reflected in the public sphere, the totalitarian policies of nation-states began to falter. In particular, authoritarian practices aimed at creating a common national identity and a single national language began to meet with significant objections. Groups that had been at odds with the prevailing majority on ethnic, linguistic, and religious grounds and that had up to that time been kept at a distance from the administrative centre began to demand the preservation and protection of their identities and cultures. These demands were also reflected in Turkey. The concept of citizenship developed by the Republican regime and the imposition of a common identity and lifestyle for people of varying languages, religions, and ethnic origins met with significant objection from the late 1980s onwards. After the partial easing of the oppression arising from the coup d’état of 1980 especially, ethnic and religious groups thought of as damaging to national identity established by the capital, Ankara became more visible within society and began to participate more actively in politics. Groups that had not considered themselves part of acceptable society began to put forth demands for their unique character to be socially accepted and preserved. Women re- belled against the dominant male culture and adopt a variety of methods to fight sexist discrimination. Homosexuals drew attention to their oppression; they began to fight to gain equality as citizens with a different sexual orientation both in the private and the public sphere. Islamic circles also became involved, with their demands that women not be deprived of their rights because of their headscarves and that children be brought up in line with their faith. The Alawis challenged the Sunni character of the regime and put pressure on both political and legal mechanisms for the abolishment of obligatory religious lessons in schools. Non-Muslims expressed the necessity of coming to terms with the discrimination they have been subjected to in the past and present and to solve current issues deriving from this discrimination. The demand for the recognition of Kurdish ethnic and cultural identity is of distinctive importance among these demands, which over the years have increased in type and variety. In this context, the most-emphasized demand and the one that forms the predominant part of the cultural rights claim consists of the use of the mother tongue – Kurdish – in education. Kurds base their demands in this area on three main principles. “Scar of Tongue” aims to contribute to deepening the current debates on mother tongue-based education and to the development of an understanding of multilingual education – involving the use of Kurdish in education – in Turkey.

Published in Genocide Studies and Prevention 2008, 3:1, 43-73

VESAL2021 Proceedings Book, 2021

Using mother tongue in foreign language classroom has been discussed over the years and still remains a contested issue among teachers and experts in the foreign languages field. This paper replicated a study conducted in Spain and later in China with the aim of determining whether Kurdish should be used in the Preparatory English Classrooms, and attitudes of students and teachers towards using Kurdish in the classroom. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used questionnaires for collecting quantitative data from instructors and students, and interviews together with classroom observation for qualitative data from 100 students and 20 teachers. The results indicate that even though majority of students do not wish Kurdish to be used in class, they still like it when teachers do. Teachers overwhelmingly support prudent use of Kurdish in the classrooms mostly while giving instructions and when dealing with new vocabulary terms, especially under time limit constraints. Reasons for students' luck of support for their mother tongue in class were suggested and recommendations made.

The aim of the research is to discuss what the bilingual education is and to suggest a model for performing this education in Turkey. There are many nations whose mother tongues are different in Turkey. Today, educating children whose mother tongue and official language are different is the basis of some problems. It is observed that in case of education is performed just with official language, the children whose mother tongue is different than official language are strained as educational and they face serious social problems in the first years of the school. Bilingual education means to perform educational activities in two (or more) different languages. However it is hard to suggest a bilingual education model in Turkey owing to various reasons foremost laws. By considering conditions in Turkey, that can be said; the optimal model is “Transition Model” if mentioned problems are overcome. In transition model, it is aimed that after the children complete the early stages of their education process, they complete the remainder of their education with the official language. Keywords: Multiculturalism, bilingualism, bilingual education.