Language is the basic element which brings people together, makes them social, makes them found huge organizations, carries culture and leads people to today's civilization standard. According to Ungan (2013: 15), language is that mechanism which enables one to produce sentences in limitless number and sounds in limited numbers. Korkmaz  (2007:  67)  defined  language as a sophisticated and developed system used as a communication tool between people, and it enables one to transfer feelings, thoughts, desires to others via common rules formed in terms of sound, figure and meaning according to each community's own values. In other words, language is, in its general meaning, a combination of codes which affect person's life in all aspects. It is a known fact that the term literacy evokes various things. About this term, some alternative concepts are derived such as Information Fluency, Global Informatics, Information Competence, Information Discovery, Information Empowerment, Information Mapping and Information Sophistication (Snavely and Cooper, 1997: 11). In this sense, it could be said that there is a mutual and positive relation between literacy and language skills. As the level of literacy of a person increases, his language skills improve. Therefore, activities on the effect of literacy skills should be practised in teaching Turkish as a foreign language so that language skills of those learning Turkish could be improved.

Thousands of Syrians have taken refuge in Turkey due to domestic turmoil since 2011 and in parallel with this, the number of Syrian students who want to learn Turkish has increased. This situation has made the issue of teaching Turkish much more valuable. Those Syrian refugees who speak in Arabic encounter a new language in Turkey and this may cause communicative problems due to language differences. Syrian refugees should learn Turkish and transfer it to their educational life in order to be successful in their adaptation process in Turkey. To fulfil this need, Turkish education is given to Syrian refugees in MEB schools and Turkish teaching centres and in the camps in which some of Syrian refugees live. The education given in these centres is shaped as four basic language skills. Acquiring and developing four basic language skills in a desired level are of primary aims in the process of Turkish education (Mert, 2013: 358).

Therefore, the problem of the study involves reading education in Turkish of Syrian students who immigrate from Syria to Turkey and it also contains the problems they encountered during the process. The students’ improvement on reading skills will also contribute to improve other language skills such as listening, speaking and writing. Thus, it could be suggested that determining and analyzing the problems of the study is crucial in terms of the adaptation of Syrian immigrants and their acquisition of Turkish language skills.

Reading skill among the four basic language skills has a special importance, because it facilitates person's learning, powers of analysis and synthesis, abilities of interpretation and making new judgement. (Özbay, 2011: 2). Reading is a process in which signs and symbols perceived by vocal organs and eyes are evaluated and interpreted by the brain.

(MEB, 2006: 6). Reading skill obviously has an effect not only on Turkish teaching but also on the whole education process. Our current education system is based on mostly reading, so reading has a deep impact on reaching aims of our education system. It is obvious that any student whose reading skill is not developed will not succeed, as all lessons require reading (Özbay, 2011: 3).

Reading in a foreign language is different from the process of reading in the first language. One who learns Turkish as a foreign language has a different linguistic ability, experiences and world-view from those who learn Turkish as the first language.

Since Turkish language has its own rules and an exclusive logic, students who have faced Turkish for the first time could have difficulties in comprehending these rules and logic (Y?ld?z and Tunçel, 2014: 192). When people want to learn a new language (a foreign language) or a second foreign language after their mother tongue, they inevitably make positive or negative transfers from structures or features of their first language (Ömür, 2009: 1664). Although the similarities of Arabic with Turkish in word exchanges enable Syrian students to make positive transfers, derivational, structural, arti-culation and alphabetical differences between two languages lead them to make negative transfers. Considering the benefits of reading such as teaching grammar and vocabulary through texts in Turkish language, the importance and improvement of reading skill is obviously understood.

When the literature is searched, it is clearly seen there are many studies about teaching Turkish to Arabians and its place in history (Akku?, 1999; Bask?n, 2012) and when Turkish language was taught to Arabians, There are many studies such as course books used (?eref and Y?lmaz, 2013), Turkish writing skill (Bölükba?, 2011; Suba??, 2010), Perception of Turkish language (Akkaya, 2013) and educational problems of Syrian refugees (Seydi, 2013; Seydi, 2014). However, it is noticed that there is no study directly related with the opinions of instructors about reading skills of Syrian students learning Turkish.

In the study, opinions of the instructors working in Turkish teaching centres in Çukurova University and Adana Science and Technology University are evaluated about the education of reading skill of Syrian students.

 

Aim of study

The aim of the study is to examine the education of Syrian students’ reading Turkish and the problems they face in the process in accordance with the opinions of instructors in Turkish teaching centres. With this purpose, the opinions of the instructors working in Turkish teaching centres about reading skill and education have been concentrated on.  

Opinions of instructors giving Turkish education to foreigners in Turkish teaching centres about Syrian students' reading skill were evaluated in the study which was designed as qualitative.

Qualitative research is a study in which qualitative data gathering tools such as  observation,  interview,  and  document  analysis are used and a qualitative process is followed to present perceptions and events in natural environment in a realistic and holistic way  (Y?ld?r?m and ?im?ek, 2008: 39). The interview form method was used as data gathering tool in the study. The analysis of data gathered was evaluated by content analysis in the study.

 

Study group

The study group included 11 instructors in Turkish teaching centres connected to Çukurova University and Adana Science and Technology University.

 

Data gathering tools

Data were collected via interview forms prepared by the researchers in the paper. The forms were evaluated in accordance with the opinions of the experts. To provide the validity of the forms, the interview was given to two experts who give education in the field of Turkish teaching and participate in scientific works in universities. 

 

Data gathering and analysis

In the study, specific times, when the instructors were available were chosen to collect data. In the interviews voice recorder was used and each interview lasted for 45 min.

To provide the reliability of the interview form, a pilot interview was made with an expert in the field of teaching Turkish to Foreigners.  To obtain the reliability measurement reliability formula was used suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994). Consequently, the reliability of the study was 100% and the mean was 88%. When the reliability rate is over 70%, the study is regarded as reliable (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The result was a favourable one, so data gathering process was started.

The instructors were asked to answer 8 half-configured questions. Codes and themes were identified by examining the data collected. Direct quotes from the opinions of the instructors were taken in the reporting phase. Each of the instructors was called as ``K`` and they were ordered as `` K1, K2, K3 ...`` 

The answers of instructors gave to question of  “What  do your students think about reading in Turkish? Please explain.” are shown in Table 1, with the quotes, categories and frequencies According to Table 1, the instructors generally think that Syrian students are eager to learn Turkish and read Turkish texts. For instructors' opinion, the fact that reading skill is improved easily and that Syrian students like reading Turkish enables them to have no or less problem in reading the texts appropriately prepared for their level. Among other opinions, attractive texts furnished with the elements of cultural transfer affect the students' attitude to reading positively. However, it was stated that some students are prejudiced to Turkish due to the idea that Turkish is difficult, so they sometimes feel under pressure while reading and they think it is difficult to read the text. In the light of this information, Syrian students' attitude to learn Turkish is partly positive. The answers of the instructors gave to question of “Do you have any difficulties while improving Turkish reading skill? Why? '' are shown in Table 2, with the quotes, categories and frequencies. According to Table 2, the instructors generally have difficulty in improving reading skill. It is stated that the reasons of this difficulty are caused by plenty of mispronunciation while reading, alphabetical differences, students’ worry about reading, underdeveloped vocabulary and the effects of cognitive problems resulting from the students them-selves. Besides, the instructors who said that they did not have any difficulty while improving reading skill stated that they avoided the problems thanks to the activities performed. From this view, it can be pointed that the instructors generally have difficulty while improving their reading skill. The reason of this could be that Syrian students speak Arabic language which has different linguistic structure.

 

 

 

The answers of instructors gave to question of “What are the miscues your students do while reading Turkish? Please explain.'' are shown in Table 3, with the quotes, categories and frequencies.

 

 

According to Table 3, the instructors face mostly articulation mistakes while improving reading skill. This information shows that Syrian students make mostly articulation problems in the education of reading skill.

The answers of instructors gave to question of “What kind of studies do you do to overcome the mistakes your students make while reading Turkish? Please explain.'' are shown in Table 4 with the quotes, categories and frequencies. 

 

 

According to Table 4, it is seen that the instructors do exercises such as general reading, articulation, reading aloud, dictation, reading stories and repetition to overcome the problems they faced while making reading. Teacher's reading the text first, correcting the mistakes simultaneously and benefiting from other basic skills in education of reading skill were among the opinions that were thought as beneficial. Besides, there were some instructors who stated they solved the problem by taking attention exercises.  According to the data, the instructors used different exercises to overcome Syrian students' reading mistakes and there was not a common approach for solution of problems.

The answers of instructors gave to question of “What are the methods and techniques you used to improve your students' Turkish reading skill and the problems you faced while using these methods and techniques? Please explain'' are shown in Table 5, with the quotes, categories and frequencies.

 

 

According to Table  5,  the techniques the instructors used to improve Syrian students' reading skill were sorted in terms of priority queue as thus: “techniques of oral reading, silent reading, interactive reading, question and answer, listening again after recording the text being read, summarizing the text and using literary works in the class”. It was also stated that materials apart from course books were used in order to make students’ reading skill better and an attempt was made to increase their readiness by informing them about the reading activity. These data show that the instructors did not use common methods to improve reading skill, instead they preferred different methods in their classes.

With the quotes, categories and frequencies the answers of instructors gave to question of “How do you evaluate reading activities you prefer in your classes in the frame of principle of cultural transfer? Please explain'' are given in Table 6.

 

 

The answers of the instructors gave to the question of “What are the evaluation and measurement studies you use to identify your students’ level of acquisition and improvement of reading skill?  are shown in Table 7, with the quotes, categories and frequencies.

 

 

According to Table 7, the studies the instructors prefer in evaluation of reading skill consist of the exams including different kinds of questions, true,-false questions, multiple choice questions, filling the blanks questions, matching questions, on-off questions and open ended questions. Also, there is an instructor saying that  he  doesn't  use   any   kind   of   measurement   and evaluation study. Under the light of this data, it is understood that there is not a systematic measurement and evaluation study which all instructors could carry out and that instructors use different practices in the measurement and evaluation of reading skill.  

The answers of instructors gave to question of “Do you find educators giving Turkish education to foreigners sufficient in terms of improving basic language skills? How do you evaluate yourself in this respect? are shown in Table 8, with the quotes categories and frequencies.

 

 

According to Table 8, it is emphasized on the view that instructors should improve themselves to be successful. Instructors giving Turkish education as a foreign language were evaluated and they were regarded as sufficient by 3 instructors, insufficient by 2 instructors and partly sufficient by 2 instructors. Also, the number of instructors who find themselves sufficient in the field of Turkish education as a foreign language is more than the number of those who find insufficient. From this data, the instructors teaching Turkish as a foreign language should be provided opportunities  such as attending scientific meetings as conference and symposium and keeping up with the latest scientific writings and articles related to this field, which will improve them. By enriching the classes with materials, they could make teaching Turkish as a foreign language in a better situation. 

The study was shaped according to the opinions of the instructors in teaching Turkish centres about Syrian students' reading skill;  it focused on students' attitude to reading Turkish, the instructors' having difficulty while improving this skill, students’ miscues while reading and the solutions of these miscues, the methods, techniques and studies of measurement and evaluation the instructors carried out, intercultural level of the texts used and the proficiency of instructors giving education of Turkish as a foreign language. Data gathered in the result of the study can be ordered as thus:

According to the instructors, Syrian students are willing to learn and read in Turkish, but they could have difficulty in this process. The reasons are they are prejudiced to Turkish, they feel under pressure while reading in Turkish and they found it difficult to make the text reading perceivable. Alphabetical differences lie under the factors that Syrian students, the native speakers of Arabic, experience difficulty while learning Turkish. Turkish language has an alphabet being rich of vowels and this leads to have many difficulties for foreigners whose language has more consonants than vowels (?engül, 2014: 338). Most of the instructors stated that they had difficulty while improving reading skill. Articulation mistakes Syrian students made are among the basic reasons why the instructors have difficulty in improving reading skill. One of the instructors said he did not have difficulty in improving reading skill and he overcame the difficulties   with   exercises he did. The Instructors encountered mostly articulation problems while improving reading skill. The students have just started to know Turkish language which has different linguistic structures and alphabet from the language they speak. This leads them to make mistakes in articulation of some sounds. The instructors try to fix the articulation mistakes with exercises of reading, articulation, dictation, oral reading, repetition; and they make the students read story books. Subsequently, they read the text first and correct the students' mistakes spontaneously to overcome the articulation problems. The instructors prefer different methods and techniques to improve reading skill. It is not seen an agreement on methods and techniques which are regarded beneficial to improve reading skill.  The techniques they generally prefer are oral reading, silent reading, interactional reading and question-answer. None of the methods, approaches and techniques is sufficient alone. What the teacher should do is to use most efficient

 one in the process of instruction-learning (Köksal and Var??o?lu,  2014: 109). Although cultural transfers are included in most of the reading materials, it is not mentioned in some of them at all or partly included. The instructors think that cultural transfer is made through reading texts and the texts including cultural transfer improve reading skill. Since cultural transfer is an important element of language teaching, the instructors prefer materials including cultural transfer as well as the course books. It should be paid attention to prefer materials   which  carry   cultural   elements   in   teaching Turkish as a foreign language.

Also, while studying texts which is one of the important elements of cultural transfer in Turkish lessons as a foreign language, some activities should be practised which enable students to face with new ways of thinking and life-styles through texts, and which provide them to learn the attitudes to Turkish culture with tolerance by comparing their own culture and Turkish culture (Bölükba? and Keskin, 2010: 234). Including cultural elements in foreign language teaching and transferring the basic cultural features besides grammar rules of language will not only make the language learned meaningful for students but also will facilitate the learning. In that way, learning a foreign language will be a thing that will be more enjoyable rather than being difficult and boring, so it could be learned in a short time.  Also, students will have a chance to know other cultures and be aware of other people in various life-styles in the world (especially in the teaching language to young learners). This will increase their learning motivation and help them to develop empathy for people having different cultures and to develop a positive attitude to learn a foreign language (Er, 2006: 11).

There are differences on measurement and evaluation studies  the   instructors   enforced   to   identify  students' reading level. In identifying reading skill, different techniques such as true false questions, filling the blank questions, multiple choices, matching questions, on-off questions and open-ended questions are used. Besides, the exams including multiple kinds of questions and thought to give more favourable results are prepared and carried out by instructors. In this way, it is possible to combine different techniques and create more valid and reliable exams. (Raz? and Raz?, 2014: 387). The process of measurement and evaluation is made by grading the questions by the instructors.  The expression "I don't use any measurement and evaluation study.” is among the remarkable opinions in terms of the importance of measurement and evaluation in the education of reading skill. Preparing studies of measurement and evaluation according to students is of great importance in teaching a foreign language. As a result of inadequacy of measurement and evaluation tools or using irrelevant or incorrect ones, the students in different levels are graded in the same education atmosphere, so it doesn’t give the desired results due to hampering educational process both for teacher and student (Y?ld?z and Tunçel, 2014: 200). Also, knowing the features of measurement tools, identifying relevant measurement tools, making the measurement properly, and recognizing the measures in the evaluation will affect the qualification of language teaching directly (Derman, 2013: 538). Some instructors regard the educators giving Turkish education as sufficient and some of them insufficient.  The most dominated view is that instructors giving Turkish edu-cation as a foreign language should develop themselves. In the education of Turkish as a foreign language, it is thought that when instructors make studies, participate in researches and attend scientific meetings, these will support their development on this issue. Consequently, according to the instructors, reading is a skill in which students are interested and willing to learn. The students, who speak Arabic language, having a different linguistic structure, make articulation mistakes in reading Turkish and this causes the instructors to have difficulty. In measurement and evaluation studies, the instructors use different methods and techniques to improve reading skill. It is noticed that instructors giving Turkish education to foreigners hasn’t got adequate professional qualification and should be open to development.  

These suggestions are made as a result of data collected from the interview forms with instructors in Turkish teaching centres:

1. It should be paid attention on whether the texts chosen in teaching Turkish as a foreign language are appropriate to cultural transfer.

2. Difference methods and techniques used among instructors   should   be   decreased   and   methods   and techniques in teaching reading skill should be increased. 

3. Difference between instructors in the process of measurement and evaluation of reading skill should be decreased and measurement and evaluation methods in reading skill should be increased.

4. Technology-based materials should be used to improve reading skill. 

5. Technology-based measurement and evaluation studies should be increased.  In the selection of the instructors to give education of Turkish as a foreign language, it is necessary to be more tedious. It should be taken into consideration whether the instructors to be chosen have sufficient knowledge of field and qualification.

6. Theorical and practical in-service training courses should be given to instructors about the improvement of reading skill of Syrian students learning Turkish.

7. Experimental studies should be done about the improvement of reading skill of Syrian students.

The author has not declared any conflict of interests.