The Perceptions of Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language Towards "Writing in Turkish"

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the perceptions of students who learn Turkish as a foreign language towards "writing in Turkish." The study was conducted using the phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods. The study sample consisted of one hundred seventy-five (175) students who were from two state universities in Turkey and learned Turkish as a foreign language in the 2019-2020 academic year. The study data were collected using an online form, and the participant students were asked to complete the statement in the form as follows: "Writing in Turkish is like ……, because ……………". As a result of the research, the students generated one hundred and eleven (111) valid metaphors about "writing in Turkish." Ninety (90) of them were positive, and 21 were negative. The categories with the highest number of positive responses were as follows: "Writing in Turkish: an Enjoyable Task" (n: 20), "Writing in Turkish: an Improving Task" (n: 17), "Writing in Turkish: a Similar Task" (n: 13) and "Writing in Turkish: an Achievable Task" (n: 12). The category with the most negative responses was the "Writing in Turkish: a Difficult Task" (n: 12).