Examination of "our country and cultural values" theme in the primary education turkish textbooks

Abstract

The main aim of the Turkish course is to help students gain language skills. Besides language skills, teaching cultural values and transferring them to the next generation are also important. The material and moral values ​​of a society are carried from the past to the present through language. For this reason, not only the activities that develop the language skills but also the elements of the culture of that society must be included in the Turkish textbooks. The aim of this study is to examine to what extent the elements of the culture of the Turkish Cypriot community are included in the Turkish textbooks published by the TRNC Ministry of National Education. In order to collect data, by using document analysis method and scanning technique, in the "our country and cultural values" theme in the Turkish textbook which is used by TRNC Primary Education for 2.-8. grade levels, the findings related to the culture of Turkish Cypriot community, traditions and customs, works of art, folk dances, food and beverage were determined by content analysis. According to the findings, it was found out that the most intense cultural elements were in the Geography/Places and Food and Beverage category, and the least cultural elements were in the Folk Dances / Sports, Children's Games and Religion-Faith categories. In the other categories, a weak content was found out.