Abstract:

In the process of Turkey’s international expansion, teaching Turkish to foreigners starting with the “Great Students Project” has not only expanded to include Turks and related communities but as a project it has also opened up to the rest of the world gaining a great momentum recently. Teaching Turkish as a foreign language means not only teaching of a language but also the international expansion of Turkish culture and value systems into foreign cultures. There are important roles and responsibilities for YTB, MONE, TOMER, Yunus Emre Foundation and TIKA in this process. It is absolutely necessary for the instructors who will be assigned to these institutions to be well equipped and knowledgeable on cultural differences among different countries. When teaching the language, the language instructor also transfers the cultural codes of a specific language. Therefore, it is very important for the instructor to be well educated at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. From the eyes of foreign students the instructor is seen as the image of Turkey. The instructors who will be assigned at institutions, be it in-country or abroad, should be educated with qualities of a person of mission with the necessary consciousness to achieve his/her responsibilities. There is a shortage for teaching instructors in the newly established language centres of our universities to teach Turkish to foreigners. It certainly does not seem to be possible to satisfy this shortage with short courses or certificate programs. Therefore, provision of undergraduate and graduate programs related to Turkish language teaching in our universities with a new functionality has become crucially important

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