Yabancı Dil Olarak Türkçe Öğretiminde Yazma Becerisine Yönelik Sanatsal Etkinlik Tasarımı ve Uygulaması
Design and Implementation of Art-Based Activities for Writing Skills in Turkish as a Foreign Language Teaching

Summary/Abstract: Art has the potential to transform learning into a meaningful, aesthetic, and multidimensional experience - when integrated into educational processes as a form of individual expression. Particularly in language teaching, the use of art helps students use the target language not merely as a set of structural rules but as a tool for communication and expression. Writing is typically the skill in which learners of Turkish as a foreign language experience the greatest difficulty and the highest levels of anxiety. It is known that most writing activities in coursebooks are predominantly based on formal and functional approaches, offering limited support for creativity and process-oriented learning. In addition, although studies focus on drama, film, music, and literature in the teaching of Turkish as a foreign language, research integrating different forms of art into the instructional process in a relational and systematic manner is quite limited. In this context, the study aims to transform traditional writing activities in the coursebook into art-based activities such as collage, painting, music, visual art, origami, and fairy tales; to examine how these activities are reflected in student products; and to reveal students’ views on the activities. This research is a case study because it aims to evaluate the art-based writing activities that were designed. The study group consists of 40 tertiary-level students from different native languages who are learning Turkish at the A1.2 level at a foundation university in Istanbul. In the study, the writing activities in six units of the textbook Turkish Language II for International Students were redesigned to incorporate art-based content aligned with A1.2 learning outcomes in the CEFR and the Turkish Maarif Foundation curriculum, within the framework of constructivist learning and an action-oriented approach. These art-based activities were implemented in the classroom for six weeks, once a week, with each session lasting 50 minutes. The activities were aimed at students to work individually and collaboratively. As data collection tools, students’ written and visual products, as well as questionnaires consisting of closed- and open-ended questions, were administered online after each activity. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Student products reveal that art-based stimuli improved written expression. In the collage activity, students created original, functional posters about the courses they selected; they included informative elements such as the course name, duration, cost, address, and contact information, and used slogans and creative titles to leverage the associative power of language. In the painting activity, writing based on two different paintings yielded texts with descriptive language, comparison structures, and emotion-related vocabulary. Students also related the paintings to their own life experiences and preferences, presenting meaningful reasoning. In the music activity, students described the places and people they visualised while listening to the song, using vocabulary related to physical features, hobbies, and emotions, and they reused previously learned words and grammar structures in a natural context. In the drawing activity, students collaboratively wrote a story containing elements of Turkish culture (food, cities, artists, etc.) and reinforced their writing by illustrating their narratives. In the origami activity, using words chosen from song lyrics, students wrote congratulatory messages, adapted politeness expressions and formulaic phrases to different celebration contexts, and turned their texts into physical products using handmade envelopes. In the fairy-tale activity, students created short, meaningful sentences expressing individual and social wishes using the three-wish storyline. Taken together, the student products were appropriate for the A1.2 language level, relevant to the topics and instructions, and demonstrated semantic coherence and successful achievement of communicative goals. Students’ responses to the closed- and open-ended questionnaire items reveal that artbased activities contributed to the writing process in effective, cognitive, and social ways. Students stated that the activities broke the monotony of the lesson and made the process more engaging, enjoyable, and relaxing; this positively affected their attitudes toward the course and increased their motivation to write. Collaborative work was reported to strengthen peer interaction and help students feel safer within the group. Moreover, students emphasised that art-based stimuli and teacher guidance supported mental preparation before writing, helping them overcome difficulties in generating ideas, facilitating expression in the target language, and promoting the learning of contextual vocabulary. In conclusion, art-based activities were appropriate for students’ language levels, enhanced writing skills in multiple ways, and positively transformed the learning environment. In this regard, the study demonstrates that art integration is an effective approach for improving writing skills in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. Therefore, it is recommended that coursebooks include more art-based activities and that opportunities offered by art integration be used more effectively in teaching Turkish as a foreign language.

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