Preparing Turkish Language Learners for Erasmus Experience: Bartın Case

Abstract

Since Turkey started participating in Erasmus+ program in 2002, the interest in studying abroad has been growing in terms of popularity among Turkish students. With the aim of better preparing these students before their experience abroad, Bartın University decided to implement a language course for the outgoing students, and the researcher was responsible for the speaking lessons. The researcher implemented a plan that mainly included dialogue preparation, acting out and getting to know each other activities, icebreakers, and giving presentations in different contexts related to real life situations. The data was collected with the participation of four students who agreed to participate in the semi structured interviews during their stay. The result of the interviews indicated that the students felt positively towards the pre-departure speaking course and the situation-based dialogue exercises generally enabled them to better cope with the challenges they faced while they were studying abroad. Moreover, the participants also expressed that they made use of the phrases they practiced in the lessons during their stay abroad and that they could easily adapt to the similar icebreaker activities organized during the orientation weeks of the universities abroad. This study concludes with suggestions towards future pre-departure courses in preparing language learners for studying abroad.