Abstract:

The purpose of this case study was to explore linguistic difficulties of Polish learners while learning Turkish as a foreign language, to sort out linguistic categories they struggle during their learning process, and also which learning strategies they get benefit to reach their target. Therefore, in this study, the following three research questions are investigated from the perspectives of three Polish learners of Turkish language:1) How do they recognize their own linguistic difficulties?; 2) How do their own life experiences help them to develop intercultural competence and a meta-awareness of linguistic competence?; and 3) What learning strategies do they use to cope with in real communication atmosphere? Participants of this study are Polish Erasmus students attending Turkish classes at Çukurova University, Adana-Turkey. As a result of qualitative data analyses carried out by using multiple data collection methods –interviews, and think-aloud protocols, it is found that Polish learners use different learning strategies to cope with linguistic difficulties and to improve their linguistic competence.

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