The Attributions of the Learners of Turkish Language as a Foreign Language for Their Success and the Place of Technology Use

Abstract

In recent years with a visible rise both in number and educational quality of universities in Turkey the number of foreign students studying in Turkish universities has also increased. Foreign students coming to our country for educational purposes learn Turkish language at Turkish Teaching Application and Research Centers (TÖMER) which are established within the universities. This study was conducted in two universities in order to investigate foreign leaners' attributions for their success in learning Turkish language and the place of "technology use fctor" in these attributions. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase three focus group interviews were held with fifteen students about their attributions. Later a survey questionnaire was formed using the data collected in the interviews and conducted to 143 students. After analyzing the findings through software programme called SPSS, it was found that some internal factors like "interest", "future plans", and "effort" were among the most frequent attributional factors cited by the learners. "Technology use factor" appeared not to be very popular with the learners in learning Turkish as a foreign language.