Review of Secondary School Turkish Textbooks in Terms of Inclusion of Content Related to the Turkic World

Abstract

Turkish textbooks are the main sources used in mother tongue education. Turkish textbooks prepared in a skills-based manner, also aim to provide language pleasure, reading habits and aesthetic pleasure. In addition to these stated purposes, historical accumulation and cultural transfer are also provided through the texts, topics covered in the texts, activities, pictures and end-of-theme evaluation questions. The purpose of this study is to examine whether Turkish textbooks include content related to the Turkic world. Therefore, the aim of examining Turkish textbooks is to reveal the current situation and identify deficiencies. Thus, based on the results obtained, it is determined as a sub-objective to provide suggestions for newly prepared textbooks. In the study, which was prepared using the qualitative research method, data were collected through document analysis. Accordingly, 11 different Turkish textbooks used in official and private secondary schools were examined. Descriptive analysis was used to determine the content related to the Turkic world in Turkish textbooks and to transfer these contents to tables. Content analysis was used to reveal the relationship of the contents with the Turkic world. In order to ensure validity and reliability, support was also received from three field experts on the accuracy of the description, the relationships between the data, the interpretation of the data and the organization of the analysis. The fact that the textbooks are given to each student free of charge, used as the main course source and that all students encounter the same content provides equal opportunities in education and brings with it an important issue such as preparing the content to be transferred more carefully. Based on the studies showing that students’ perceptions and knowledge about the Turkic world are insufficient, it is considered important to reveal to what extent Turkish textbooks include content related to the Turkic world. Similarly, as a result of the study, it was concluded that Turkish textbooks do not include content related to the Turkic world sufficiently. It was also determined that the content found was partially superficial. It is thought that this result provides important data for the new Turkish textbooks to be prepared, thus contributing to the preparation of new textbooks more carefully based on the results of the current situation.