The nature of the learners

Students coming into this pathway are background learners of Turkish with varying degrees of proficiency in the language. All have family and community connections with the language and associated cultures, or with languages or dialects related to Turkish. Some may have recently arrived in Australia, may have completed the primary years of schooling in Turkish and may have established literacy as well as oracy skills in the language. Others will have participated in community language programs during these years and have some literacy capabilities. Others may have minimal experience of formal learning of Turkish, with no literacy proficiency and varying degrees of oral capabilities, depending on their home language environment. All students share the experience of belonging to worlds in which languages play a key role and diversity of language use is common. The curriculum takes into account the diversity of learners, ensuring that tasks and activities are flexible to cater for different language capabilities while being appropriately pitched to all learners’ cognitive and social levels.

Turkish language learning and use

Students use Turkish to interact with each other, the teacher and other speakers of the language, to access and exchange information, to express ideas and feelings, to compete and to cooperate in learning tasks and activities. They build vocabulary resources, grammatical knowledge and communicative capabilities such as active listening skills and interactional strategies through shared learning experiences that provide a context for purposeful language use and through focused learning episodes that develop understanding of language systems and an ability to use metalanguage. They use modelled and rehearsed language to compose and present different types of texts, for example, shared stories, media and hypermedia texts, songs, poems, reports or journal entries. They plan, draft and present imaginative and informative texts, design interactive events and participate in discussions. They make cross-curricular connections and explore intercultural perspectives and experiences. Learners use ICT to support their learning in increasingly independent and intentional ways, exchanging resources with each other and with learners in different contexts.

Contexts of interaction

Students interact primarily with each other and the teacher in class, with some access to broader Turkish-speaking networks in the school and local community. ICT resources, such as email, online chats or wikis, provide access to additional experiences of authentic communication, connecting learners’ social worlds with those of Turkish-speaking peers in other contexts. Learners have additional access to Turkish language experience through media, community events, websites, social media and radio streaming.

Texts and resources

Learners work with a range of texts designed for in-school learning of Turkish, such as textbooks, readers, literary texts, videos, online media resources and materials. They also access materials created for Turkish-speaking communities, such as songs, films, magazines and social media texts such as blogs and advertisements and websites. They interact with a range of texts created for different purposes, for example, informational, transactional, communicative, expressive and imaginative texts, and make connections between these text types in Turkish and the work they do around similar texts in the English learning area.

Features of Turkish language use

Learners recognise and use key elements of Turkish grammar, such as word order, positions of adjectives, adverbs and postpositions, and recognise how grammatical forms and functions are represented through agglutination. They apply the principles of vowel harmony, for example, when adding nominal case endings, -(e), -(i), -d(e), -d(e)n to nouns, such as ev-e, ev-i, ev-de, ev-den, ev-in. They understand and use simple verb tenses, using negation and affirmation and suffixes to form sentences, such as biliyorum/bilmiyorum, okur/okumaz, uyudu/uyumadı, geleceğim/gelmeyeceğim, gitmiş/gitmemiş. They use a range of adjectives, adverbs and postpositions to describe actions, places and people in their own texts, for example, mavi köşkte, Kısa saçlı biriydi, Çok dikkatli yürü, Dün sabah geldi ; and understand and use the conditional marker -s(e) and/or the word eğer in compound sentences, for example, Eğer kitap okursan hayal gücün gelişir. They develop their range of vocabulary to domains beyond their personal experience and interests, use and analyse grammatical forms and structures and develop awareness of how these shape textual features. They use descriptive and expressive language to create particular effects and engage interest. They develop language knowledge, processing strategies and understanding of text conventions and patterns to assist in comprehending unfamiliar texts. They make connections between texts and cultural contexts, identifying how values and perspectives are embedded in language and how language choices determine how people, issues and experiences are represented. They are aware of the nature of the relationship between languages and cultures, noticing, for example, how particular Turkish words or expressions ‘carry’ cultural values or experiences. They reflect on the nature of bicultural and multicultural experience, on how languages change in response to broader social and cultural shifts, and how they perceive their own identities as users of two or more languages in a multicultural society.

Level of support

Differentiated support is required for learners with different levels of oracy and literacy proficiency. All learners require opportunities to review and consolidate learning; different degrees of balance between consolidation work and provision of more challenging tasks ensure learners at different levels are catered for. Teachers provide scaffolding, modelling and material and resource support for the development of fluency and accuracy in spoken language and of grammatical and literacy capabilities. Learners are supported to develop autonomy as language learners and users, and to self-monitor and adjust language in response to their experience in different communicative contexts. They are encouraged to engage critically with resources such as websites and translating tools and other resources designed to strengthen their receptive and productive language use.

The role of English

Learners are encouraged to use Turkish whenever possible. English is used when appropriate for discussion, explanation, comparison and reflection, for example, when considering the nature and relationship of language and culture or in tasks which involve bilingual work that includes comparison and analysis of Turkish and English. The process of moving between and using both languages consolidates learners’ already established sense of what it means to be bilingual or multilingual and provides opportunities for reflection on the experience of living interculturally in intersecting language communities.

The nature of the learners

This stage of learning coincides with social, physical and cognitive changes associated with adolescence. Increased cognitive maturity enables learners to work more deductively with language and culture systems, to apply more intentional learning strategies and to reflect productively on their learning. Motivation and engagement with language learning and use are influenced by peer–group dynamics, personal interests and values, and issues related to self-concept. This is particularly the case for bilingual learners for whom the duality of living between languages and cultural communities continuously impacts on the process of identity construction. The role of language is central to this process. It is reflected in the degree to which learners self-define as members of language communities, how they position themselves in relation to peer groups and the choices they make in relation to linguistic and social practices. These processes are fluid and context-responsive, and they impact on learners’ engagement with both Turkish and English language learning and use.

Turkish language learning and use

This is a stage of language exploration and vocabulary expansion. Learners experiment with different modes of communication, for example, digital and hypermedia, performance and discussion. Greater control of language structures and systems increases confidence and interest in communicating in wider contexts. Learners use Turkish to communicate and interact; to access and exchange information; to express feelings and opinions; to participate in imaginative and creative experiences; and to design, interpret and analyse a wider range of texts and experiences. They use language in different contexts more fluently, with a developing degree of self-correction and repair. They reference the accuracy of their written language use against a stronger frame of grammatical and systems knowledge. They demonstrate understanding of language variation and change, and of how intercultural experience, technology, media and globalisation influence language use and forms of communication.

Contexts of interaction

The language classroom is the main context of interaction in Turkish, involving interactions with peers, teachers and a wide range of texts and resources. Learners continue to interact with peers, family members and other Turkish speakers in immediate and local contexts, and with wider Turkish-speaking communities and cultural resources via virtual and online environments. They also encounter Turkish in wider contexts such as media, cultural or film festivals, community events or in-country travel.

Texts and resources

Learners engage with a range of language-learning texts and resources, such as textbooks, videos, media texts and online resources, including those developed for computer-supported collaborative learning. They engage with selected abridged versions of classic and contemporary Turkish literature and their film and TV adaptations. Learners may also access authentic materials designed for or generated by young Turkish speakers in a range of contexts, such as blogs, video clips, discussion forums, television programs or newspaper features. Learners are encouraged to source additional materials to support their learning, share them with others and pursue personal interests in aspects of Turkish language and associated cultures.

Features of Turkish language use

Learners understand and use more elaborated grammatical structures, such as verb moods, auxiliary verbs and particles. They recognise and use different types of formal and informal honorific forms, such as Bey/Hanım, Amca/Teyze, Efendi, Ağa/Hanımağa, Sayın, Ağabey (Abi)/Abla, Hoca/Öğretmen, Bay/Bayan, and learn the conditions that apply to the use of familiar and formal second person singular forms -n and -n(ı)z, for example, Yemeğin hazır, Yemeğininz hazır, and second person pronouns, sen and siz. They understand and use verb moods, recognising relevant suffixes used to create each mood. They learn how to use different auxiliary verbs by adding the verbs etmek, kılmak and olmak to nouns, for example, yardım etmek, namaz kılmak, ayıp olmak and attaching them onto single-syllable words, for example, reddetmek, affetmek, kaybolmak. They understand and use the three types of reduplication for emphasis. They use metalanguage to identify or explain language structures, forms and conventions. Learners’ vocabulary knowledge expands to include more abstract words and specialised vocabulary drawn from other learning areas or areas of wider personal interest. Textual knowledge and capability are strengthened through maintaining a balance between learning experiences which focus on language forms and structures and communicative tasks and performance. Learners recognise, analyse and construct different types of texts for different purposes and audiences. Task characteristics and conditions become more complex and challenging, involving collaborative as well as independent language planning and performance. Elements involve interpreting, creating, evaluating and performing. Genres such as media resources, fiction and nonfiction texts, performances and research projects allow for exploration of themes of personal and contemporary relevance, for example, global and environmental issues, identity and relationship issues, questions of diversity and inclusivity. Learners investigate texts through more critical analysis, identifying how language choices reflect perspectives and shape meaning, and how they in turn are shaped by context and intention.

Learners at this level understand and discuss the relationship between language, culture and identity. They explore in more depth and detail the processes involved in learning and using different languages, recognising them as involving cognitive, cultural and personal as well as linguistic resources. They identify how meaning-making and representation in different languages involve interpretation and personal response as well as literal translation and factual reporting. They explore the reciprocal nature of intercultural communication: how moving between different languages and cultural systems impacts on their ways of thinking and behaving; and how successful communication requires flexibility, awareness and openness to alternative ways. They develop a capacity to ‘decentre’ from normative ways of thinking and communicating, to consider their own cultural ways through the eyes of others, and to communicate in interculturally appropriate ways.

Level of support

At this level learners become less reliant on the teacher for support during communicative interactions and learning experiences, but provision of rich language input and modelled language is needed to continue to support and sustain their language learning. The teacher provides both implicit and explicit modelling and scaffolding in relation to meaningful language use in context, and explicit instruction and explanation in relation to language structures, grammatical functions and abstract concepts and vocabulary knowledge. Provision of opportunities to discuss, clarify, rehearse and apply their knowledge is critical in consolidating knowledge and skills and in developing autonomy. Learners are encouraged to self-monitor, for example, by keeping records of feedback, through and contributing to peer support and through self-review.

The role of English

Learners and teachers use Turkish as the primary medium of interaction in both language-oriented and content-oriented learning activities. English is used when appropriate for discussion, explanation and analysis that involves comparative analysis or conceptual demands which may be better articulated in English. Learners are supported to reflect on the different roles English and Turkish play in their academic work, their conceptual development and their social and community lives.