The Role of Turkish Language in Fulbright Experience

Prof. Dr. Ersel AYDINLI

Since its founding in 1949, the Turkish Fulbright Commission has been heavily involved with the teaching and learning of the Turkish language. Two programs in particular exemplify this concentration in unique ways—the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Program and the English Teaching Assistants (ETA) Program. The FLTA Program was launched for Turkish citizens in 2002, with the aim of sending experienced second language teachers to the U.S. for a year to teach Turkish as a Second Language to American university students. In the 20+ years that the program has been running, the Commission has sent 294 Turkish FLTA grantees to the U.S., where they have been affiliated with 51 different universities. FLTAs often become the first point of contact with the Turkish language and culture for many American students who, in turn, become interested not only in applying for Fulbright grants to Turkiye themselves, but in general, in continuing their personal and professional interest in this country and in the Turkish language. Students of FLTAs often apply to come to Turkiye as English Teaching Assistants (ETA)—a program that brings recent U.S. university graduates to Turkiye to provide English language support in the hazirlik programs of state universities. While it may not be as immediately obvious as it is for the FLTAs, the teaching and learning of the Turkish language also plays a big role for our English Teaching Assistants. The ETA Program in Turkiye is developmental in nature, meaning that the Commission places ETAs in new public universities mostly in Anatolia rather than in Istanbul or Ankara. Although their title focuses on the teaching of English, the ETAs—like all of our grantees—are also here on a cultural exchange. I believe firmly that effective cultural exchange, that is, one that leads to true mutual understanding and tolerance among people, is only possible when it is mutual and interactive, and when the grant year abroad becomes part of a lifetime project and a journey rather than just a touristic visit and ultimately a memory. This cannot be accomplished without language access. This is why I personally, and the Commission institutionally, believe that trying to learn Turkish is essential for all our American grantees. Therefore, we provide our ETAs with an accelerated online Turkish course before their grant period starts, additional Turkish language lessons during our extensive orientation program, and as part of their contract, we guarantee that their host institutions will provide them with on-going Turkish lessons throughout the grant period.