Views of Cameroonian Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language Towards Türkiye and Turkish

Abstract

Today, Turkey Turkish is among the languages preferred for learning by foreigners due to its widespread use across a large geographical area in Turkey. The increasing number of foreign students studying in Turkey every year is one of the most important reasons for the spread of the Turkish language.

While teaching Turkish as a foreign language in Turkey was limited until thirty years ago to centers opened within universities (Turkish Teaching Research and Application Centers), and courses offered by consulates and embassies, today it is taught as a foreign language in Yunus Emre Institute Turkish Cultural Centers, Turkey Maarif Foundation schools, Turkology departments of universities, and schools and educational institutions opened by Turkish non-governmental organizations.

One of the countries where Turkish has recently begun to be taught as a foreign language is the Republic of Cameroon. In Cameroon, Turkish is taught in Turkey Maarif Foundation schools and at the Maarif Turkey Studies Center, which began operations following a protocol signed between the Turkey Maarif Foundation and the University of Yaoundé II in 2021. The Maarif Turkey Studies Center is the only center in Cameroon that organizes Turkish courses for adults. In addition to Turkish language teaching, the center also carries out studies aimed at promoting Turkey and Turkish culture. Interest in Turkish lessons in Cameroon is increasing day by day.

This study aims to determine the views of Cameroonian students learning Turkish at the Maarif Turkey Studies Center at the University of Yaoundé II towards the Turkish language and Turkey. The sample group of the study consists of 65 students learning Turkish at the Maarif Turkey Studies Center at the University of Yaoundé II, Cameroon. In the article, the document analysis method, one of the qualitative research techniques, was used. The data were obtained via Google Forms.