Mehmet Kurt spent his childhood in Manage, Belgium before he moved to Türkiye in 1976. He received his PhD at Çukurova University Adana, Türkiye, with a comparative semiological study of body language in Turkish and French television programmes. He now works as assistant professor at Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University in the Department of French Language and Literature. His research interests are diversified and include areas such as Turkish-French language contact, perceptual learning styles of foreign language learners and Arabic-Turkish interpreters working at hospitals. Email: mkurt27@yahoo.com

 

Abstract

This paper focuses on the past and present of French as a foreign language in the field of education in Türkiye. The survey covers the adventure of French as a foreign language in education in three different periods, including the Ottoman period up to the Tanzimat period (1839 to 1867) and from the Tanzimat period to the Republican period up to today. 

During the Ottoman Empire period, French became the most widely spoken foreign language, the foreign language of the palace, the foreign language of the elite, the language of literature, as a result of the arrival of merchants, travellers, writers and intellectuals. Tracing developments initiated through the foundation of the Turkish Republic, important trajectories since then are highlighted in this paper. Today, as a result of Türkiye's cooperation in international organisations, French has experienced a significant loss as a foreign language at the expense of English as the dominant foreign language. It is possible to see the effects of these developments in all levels of Turkish schools and Turkish society.
 

Introduction

Language is the most important tool that enables communication between people in general, the exchange of information, the formation of social rules of people's feelings and thoughts, and their dissemination and sharing. The fact that language is so important has contributed to the development of culture. Can (2014) defines language as a natural means of communication between people, a living entity that has its own conventions and develops within the framework of these conventions, a system of secret agreements whose foundation was laid in unknown times, a social institution woven from sounds. Language and culture are like the front and back sides of a coin. Both concepts resemble an inseparable duo.

Human beings have always made great efforts to improve their living conditions. These efforts have forced them to discover different cultures and thus coloured their lives. However, one of the reasons for all these developments have been to learn and practise the language of the culture one was interested in in addition to his own language, making language learning a deeply human endeavour. International exchange starts with an interest in neighbouring cultures that are close to one's own culture, and the language and culture of these communities are imported. Just as Arabic and Persian words and culture still exist in Turkish language and culture, the situation is the same when we look at the relation between Turkish and other languages. The reason for this is the result of the insatiable desire of human beings to learn and be open to innovations. The fact that Türkiye is geographically neighbouring eastern countries in the East and European countries in the West has led to an interest in Islamic and non-Muslim languages and cultures. While the interest in Arabic and Persian language and culture has weakened in the last century, the interest in western language and civilization has started to increase. Türkiye’s first and oldest political, economic, commercial, social and cultural relations in the West started with the French four centuries ago.

 

A brief historical overview: French in the Turkish culture and education

In the Ottoman Empire until the 18th century, French was the most widely spoken foreign language, the foreign language of the palace, the foreign language of the elite, the language of literature. This status was gained as a result of the arrival of merchants, travellers, writers and intellectuals from France due to the intensive commercial relations between the Ottoman Empire and France. In those times, foreigners living in the Ottoman Empire played an important role as speakers of European languages. As an outcome of the Greek Revolution in 1821 with its intention to finalise the Ottoman hegemony, many non-muslims were liquidated, and instead, students were sent to Europe. Ottomans who learnt French abroad and returned from Europe started to give French lessons at the Mühendishane-i Berri-i Hümayun, which was established at the end of the 18th century. In the meantime, French lessons were included in the curricula of schools opened in the modern style of the time. In 1864, the Lisan Mektebi, which taught French as a foreign language, was founded, marking an important milestone for French in the educational system of the Ottoman Empire and Türkiye (Nurlu & Güler Arı, 2016).

Turkish-French relations intensified with the westernisation movements that started in the so-called Tanzimat period (between 1839 and 1867). In addition to the government policy, statesmen, writers and forward-looking scientists contributed to these changes with their ideas that supported the state policy. Among these intellectuals, Mehmet Halid Bey (1891) noted that there was no other nation among the European nations that embellished its treasury of knowledge with the jewel of science through the medium of the French language (Demiryürek, 2013). Demirel (1993, p. 8) identifies the onset of formal foreign language teaching in the Ottoman Empire during the Tanzimat period, which is considered to be the beginning of the westernisation movement, when foreign language teaching was implemented in secondary school programmes in Sultanis, which constitute the nucleus of today's high schools. In this period, German, French and English schools were opened and education was provided in these languages. On 1 September 1868, a French school, the Galatasaray Sultanate, was opened, teaching the French language and culture to Turkish students and naturally initiating French admiration in these young minds. French has a historically very important place in foreign language teaching in Türkiye (Gökmen, 1999).

Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic believed in the importance of foreign languages, as he was aware of the fact that the goal of developing international relations, thereby raising Türkiye to the level of modern civilization in the world, would only be realised through international communication. This led him to the conviction that the teaching of foreign languages needed to be given priority. In particular, he knew that technical, cultural and economic development in every field would depend on the promotion of foreign language teaching and learning. French was a very popular language in his times. Atatürk actively promoted a French newspaper called "L'Ankara" published in order to introduce Türkiye's strengths and potential to the world, to develop cooperation, to take measures to ensure Türkiye’s development by attracting the French to Türkiye and bringing the necessary technologies to the country. This, along with everything else, also affected education in schools (Gökmen, 1999).

On 3 March 1924, education was unified under a single roof with the "Law on Unified Education". Arabic and Persian, which had been taught as foreign languages during the Ottoman period, were abolished and replaced with German, French and English, which were the languages of Western countries that had advanced in industry and technology. Thus, German, French and English were added to the foreign language programmes of all schools. Persian lessons were completely abolished and Arabic lessons were taught only in Imam Hatip High Schools, which emphasised religious education. The first private schools started to be opened in Türkiye with the decisions taken on 31 March 1928, the first of which was TED College. From 1955 onwards, many colleges were opened in Türkiye teaching in foreign languages, including French. The main purpose of such schools was to teach foreign languages to Turkish children.

From the Ottoman period to the present day, Turkish society has benefited from every aspect of Turkish-French relations. In the 1960s, when these relations were still intense, thousands of Turkish people went to work in France and many other European countries upon their request labourers from Türkiye, and the relations reached another peak. The children of workers who studied in these countries learned the language of their host countries.While many stayed abroad, others returned to Türkiye and graduated from the language departments of higher education in Türkiye and were employed at various levels of Turkish education contributing to the national economy. Thanks to these people, the rush to import foreign teachers from abroad gradually decreased.

Outside the field of education and within the interests of the country, the demand for language learning increased with Türkiye's membership of international organisations such as NATO and OECD, and, as a result, language and literature departments were opened in universities in the languages of French, English and German. Today, in addition to departments offering language education, teaching departments in faculties of education, translation and interpreting departments in faculties of humanities offer tertiary education. Strengthening this development, in the 1970s, courses in some schools started to be taught in English based on legal frameworks (Çelebi, 2006, p.290). In this period, Anatolian high schools were opened and it was foreseen that English, German and French courses would be taught in one-year preparatory classes.

This survey would be incomplete without pointing to the decrease in their importance that French (and German) have experienced with the rise of English as the lingua franca. In the 19th century, as America began to exert influence worldwide in the field of science and technology, it influenced Turkish society to the same degree. The prominence of English, English education in schools and the increase in the number of lesson hours allocated for English, especially in private schools, have caused French to lose its importance.

After briefly mentioning the historical development of French education, it is necessary to look at the adventure of the French in Türkiye in the last 40 to 50 years after the second half of the 20th century.

 

20th century French education in the context of Turkish politics

At the dawn of the 1980 military coup d'état, the political movements in the cities had spread to secondary education institutions, and because of the tensions between students, teachers and administrative staff in these institutions, fights had started and disrupted education. Eventually, schools were closed, and even the date of reopening was uncertain. During this period, among the foreign language teachers who were required to be present in schools, especially French teachers were scarce, and those who were present avoided to fulfil their duties especially in the Eastern provinces not least due to security concerns. As a result, foreign language classes were either not given or if there were teachers who understood that language (but were specialised in another subject), they were sent to the class by the administration to make sure that classes were delivered to avoid that learners received at least some kind of education.

An example of this is myself. When I started secondary school in 1976-1980 (after returning from Belgium in 1976), my knowledge of French was fresh and my class teacher understood that I was a proficient speaker of French. From then on, I taught French under the supervision of the teacher. However, I had not received training on language teaching education and I was unaware of student psychology.

 

Remarks on French in primary, secondary and tertiary education

Starting from the 1997-1998 academic year, although two hours of elective German and French classes were introduced in the 4th and 5th grades in addition to two hours of English, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of students who attend French classes, coupled with an insufficient number of French teachers. Even worse, students in French classes have been merged with students in German classes. Since students from different classes had to study together in these classes, students' motivation to learn deteriorated, their energy decreased or, unfortunately, due to the lack of qualified teachers and the lack of a sound curriculum, foreign language lessons have not been given the importance they deserve.

In the 1988-1989 academic year, foreign language was a compulsory subject in the first year of secondary school and an elective subject in other grades (Nurlu & Arı, 2016. p. 9). Today, there are no regular French-medium secondary schools with a few exceptions such as Tevfik Fikret, Galatasaray and Saint-Michel. In spite of various changes made in national curricula in order to improve the position of French, the lack of a sound national education programme along with the dominance of English as the preferred foreign language in Türkiye exert negative effects.

Higher education, as the final scientific stage of formal education, is a turning point in human life, which not only helps to meet social needs, but also provides the acquisition of skills that are required to become professional in an academic field. Since the last 25 years, due to the rapid progress of the British and Americans in science and technology, they have dominated the world stage by exporting the goods they produce to all parts of the world and exporting their own language with them, and they have succeeded in making their own language dominant worldwide. For this reason, the reputation of French in universities (as well as secondary schools) has declined and it has been removed from the curriculum as a foreign language in many schools over the years.

On the other hand, in order to train French teachers, manpower in the field of French language and literature, and to train French translators and interpreters who can work in various Turkish-French business partnerships in Türkiye, departments of French Language and Literature were opened first in the country’s bigger cities and then in some universities in Anatolia. The first French language teaching department was established at Gazi University between 1929 and 1948. Later, in 1935, the Faculty of Language and History-Geography was established and the Department of French Language and Literature was opened there. However, the situation of French (and other foreign languages) remains critical. In fact, without going too far, it has been witnessed that Syrian educated people who have come to our country have a much better level of fluency in a foreign language than young Turkish people.

 

Looking back and forward: Problems in the teaching of French and foreign languages in Türkiye

During the Tanzimat period, thanks to the developments in Turkish-French relations, interest in French increased to such an extent that the Turkish government sent students to France to learn the language and also imported French teachers to teach French to Turkish students. Those who grew up in this period learned to read, write and especially speak French very well and were appointed to various important positions such as state intelligence organisations, foreign affairs and interior affairs. However, from 1891 onwards, the deficiencies in the teaching of French began to be expressed as it is documented in the newspapers and magazines of the period (Demiryürek, 2013, p. 135).

Also later, after the 1950s, additional challenges were faced. For example, the import of teachers from France decreased. As the years passed, they did not come at all. The lack of foreign teachers is a great deficiency and misfortune in language teaching. Since the majority of the lecturers in the departments teaching this language at the undergraduate level in Türkiye were educated in Türkiye, the speaking part of the language (pronunciation) has always been orphaned, the graduates of these departments have lagged behind those who were educated in France and have not been successful in entering many jobs in this field.

The second major deficiency is the lack of language laboratories in schools at all levels. The best place to learn and teach a foreign language in one's own country is, beside the classroom, a language laboratory, whether in schools or in the private sector. Since these laboratories can appeal to the audiovisual senses, all the activities there become permanent in the learner's memory and are very close to the natural learning method. This deficiency is one of the reasons why Turkish learners do not learn the language easily and with pleasure without memorisation, but also fail in learning practical speech with original natural sounds over time. However, due to the high costs of building fully equipped laboratories, such laboratories cannot be built in public schools for economic reasons. Since many private schools or language centres are equipped with such equipment, quality language education is only accessible to those who have a good economic situation. In short, the state authorities have not and do not attach the necessary importance to language education. Therefore, there is no equal opportunity in education, at least in terms of language. As stated above, a well designed national language policy has not been developed. Many deficiencies in our eastern provinces are ignored by educational authorities. The best illustration of this problem is the bitter fact that students in the East and West face the same level and number of language questions in the university entrance exam but have to take the same exam under unfair conditions.

The third major deficiency is that a suitable language teaching method is not employed. Local French coursebooks prepared by the Ministry of National Education are written in a more or less completely rote memorisation style sticking to the Grammar Translation Method instead of validated principles of Communicative Language Teaching.

The fourth major deficiency is the insufficient training of foreign language teachers. The underlying reason for this is arguably again the low economic level of the society. The only aim of the student and his/her family is the desire to earn a high income in any way immediately after graduation, without considering the interests of the state and the nation, disregarding his/her general cultural background.

The fifth shortcoming is that, in general, there are cold feelings towards foreign languages. One of the main reasons for this is the widespread use of the phrase, "What are you going to do by learning a language?" This phrase has been uttered from generation to generation for at least 70 years. The reason for this, as mentioned above, is again the economic situation of families. This is due to the fact that families do not have the opportunity to send their children to well-equipped schools or abroad. In the last century, due to the country’s inability to calculate the future, its ignorance of the course of the world and Türkiye, in short, the inability to get out of the mould of narrow thinking, Turks have not even learnt the language of their neighbouring countries, and there is still an attitude against learning them. When we look at the number of people who have learnt Arabic and Russian in the Eastern Region, Bulgarian and Greek in the Western Region, Italian in the Southern Region and English in Cyprus, our disinterest in foreign languages can be easily understood. The development of the country goes in parallel with this: A European can learn one, sometimes two or three languages of one of the neighbouring countries and speak them intelligibly, but this is not the standard for Turkish people.

Another point is that, although Türkiye is a tourist destination, there are few or even no opportunities for local people to come across tourists visiting their hometowns, when these are distant from the touristic places. So, the awareness of the profession of interpreting has not developed in the minds of people.

From the teacher's point of view, the fact that some French teachers have spent years in their schools teaching other subjects than French due to the abolition of their courses, and then, with the obligation to take classes again, the weakening of their knowledge in the intervening period and their inability to adapt to the lessons again should be counted as factors that disrupt language education.

 

Conclusion

This paper focused on French education in Türkiye, analysed the history of French in Türkiye and its current status in primary, secondary, high schools and universities, and I seized the opportunity to reflect on challenges foreign language teaching, especially French language teaching, in Türkiye. Nowadays, Türkiye’s relations with France have become less significant compared to the past. French language education continues in Turkish schools, albeit weakened.

Language education is both time-consuming and costly. It is costly because it is both a burden on the state and an additional burden on the parents. The economic conditions of the country also make it difficult to import instructors from abroad in the relevant field, while at the same time causing great damage to education. However, (language) education, even if it is time-consuming and costly, will definitely pay off.

Language teaching is important because it contributes to society and to the human. It enriches our personality, makes humans into real humans given that language and culture (and the curiosity to learn new ones) are indispensable parts of our nature. Finally, knowing other languages and other cultures is more requested than ever in our times of conflict. Given the long tradition of French as a foreign language in Türkiye, it is time to take action to strengthen the position of this beautiful language in the educational system of Türkiye.

 

References

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