Abstract:

In recent years, it is known that the interest of foreigners in Turkey and learning Turkish has increased. The best example of this is the students who come to Turkey for education from different countries. Again, with the development of technology and the spread of internet use, dictionaries are known to change format and move from printed dictionaries to digital media. This study examines the interest level of students on using a mobile dictionary who came to Turkey for education and learned Turkish as a foreign language in their first year in the 2019-2020 academic year. In the study, data collected through two different scales from 50 students at the B1 level in Turkish studying at Turkish Education Center in a state university (TÖMER) who know also English very well and use mobile phones. The first scale is to determine "the types of mobile-based dictionaries used by foreign students while learning Turkish and the reasons for using this dictionary", and the second to reveal” the interest level of foreign students learning Turkish on using a mobile-based dictionary". Questions on the first scale are semi-structured open-ended and the second uses likert scale for measuring their interest level and reasons. Data from both scales were interpreted as percentages and frequencies. The results show that students who are in Turkey for educational purposes and learn Turkish as a foreign language most often use Google Translate and Turkish English Dictionary mobile dictionaries. The interest level of these students on using a mobile dictionary was determined at a ‘good’ level based on the classification developed by Arikunto (2008).

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