A COMPARISON OF THE WORD SETS IN THE EUROPEAN LANGUAGE PORTFOLIO AND THE WORDS IN TEACHING TURKISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS: THE CASE OF YUNUS EMRE INSTITUTE TURKISH INSTRUCTION SET A1 TEXTBOOK

As Turkish is a foreign language for everyone whose mother tongue is different from Turkish, Turkish instruction textbooks for foreigners are also prepared in accordance with the outcomes specified in the European Language Portfolio (ELP). Obviously, various techniques and methods are employed to help learners to acquire language skills. The most important aspect of language skills and outcomes is to teach basic core vocabulary belonging to one language. In this study, English word sets included in the European Language Portfolio (ELP) A1 level and word sets given in Yunus Emre Institute Teaching Turkish for Foreign Learners A1 textbook (YEILT) were compared. Research results indicated that a total of 779 words were found in the ELP, and a total of 1856 words were detected in the YEILT. These quantitative data refer to the words which are “known” for the ELP and the words “need to be known” for the YEILT. 55% of the words were the same in both the ELP and the YEILT. Furthermore, as the data about the ELP are limited, it may be suggested that the similarity of the words is satisfactory in terms of the outcomes. On the other hand, because the data about the ELP are obtained through translation, there are some disadvantages of obtaining data about words without their contexts, and this requires special efforts. The word sets given at the end of Turkish textbook were used to determine the words in the YEILT. Then the word sets in the YEILT were categorized according to their types in order to make a comparison among them. The same categorization procedure was employed for the words in the ELP. By making comparisons, it was aimed to determine whether the words demonstrated a significant difference according to the word types, and then significance levels were found (p<0,05). After these procedures, both of the resources were compared. Finally, different and/or similar words, the words which are the same in both resources, and the words included only in the ELP and etc. were listed and interpreted.