Assessing the Learning Needs of Turkish Language Student Teachers in Regard to Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

Abstract

This particular study aimed to highlight the student teachers' perceptions, needs, and expectations, current and desired competencies in terms of necessary teaching competencies in teaching Turkish as a foreign language (TFL) with the hope of designing a better learner-centered curriculum that goes more in line with their specific needs. The study was conducted with 367 student teachers at three state universities in 2013-2014; 2014-2015 academic years in Turkey. The results of the study revealed that regarding the students' views on the content /field knowledge dimension, almost all of the items such as content knowledge of foreign language teaching/TFL methods, grammar and language skills were perceived by student teachers highly needed. Similarly, regarding the interdisciplinary/complementary competencies, program knowledge, competency in linguistics and language acquisition dimensions were perceived highly necessary. Related to competencies in learning-teaching process, it was observed that participants strongly would like to be competent in the professional knowledge and application of the methods of teaching TFL. On the other hand, currently, they perceived themselves only partially competent in these dimensions.