An Examination of Reading Texts in a Journey to Turkish A1 and A2 Level Textbooks in Terms of Readability

Abstract

Textbooks, which have a very important place in educational activities, are also a widely used material in teaching Turkish to foreigners. Therefore, the texts in these textbooks play an effective role in learning. For this reason, it is very important to determine the readability levels of Turkish teaching textbooks for foreigners. The aim of this research is to determine the readability levels of the reading texts in the Turkish Journey A1 and Turkish Journey A2 textbooks prepared for teaching Turkish to foreigners. Document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. In the study, the syllable, word and sentence lengths of the reading texts in the textbooks were calculated. The obtained data were analyzed with the Flesch formula adapted to Turkish by Ateşman (1997) and the readability levels of the reading texts were determined. Then, the reading texts in the books were compared in terms of ease and difficulty. According to the results obtained, it has been determined that the reading texts of both textbooks are generally of medium difficulty, easy and very easy. In addition, it was determined that the Turkish Journey A2 textbook and the Turkish Journey A1 textbook consisted of more difficult texts. As a result, it was determined that both books consisted of reading texts suitable for A1 and A2 levels.