PIKTES

The Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language Program (TTFLP), submitted by the Directorate General for Lifelong Learning (PIKTES Coordinatorship) to the Presidency of Board of Education, has been officially approved by a Board Decision.

The program has been developed to ensure that foreign students living in Türkiye learn Turkish effectively, to support their social integration, and to contribute to their educational development. TTFLP has been designed in line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and in accordance with the Century of Türkiye Education Model (CTEM) Curriculum Framework. In this respect, the program represents a holistic approach that prioritizes both cognitive and sociocultural dimensions of language learning. In this context, while preparing TTFLP, the “virtue-value-action” framework, which serves as the foundation for CTEM’s goal of raising competent and virtuous individuals, was taken into consideration.

TTFLP incorporates the action-oriented approach adopted within CEFR while also grounding itself in the holistic educational approach of the Century of Türkiye Education Model (CTEM), which focuses on the intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and moral development of learners, as well as emphasizing cultural context elements.

In addition, the instructional objectives and content of the program have been aligned with national and international standards. Based on a communicative approach in language teaching, TTFLP serves as a guide for foreign students at primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary levels to learn Turkish at Pre-A1, A1, A2, A2+, and B1 levels. Additionally, the Young Learners Descriptors (ages 7–10 and 11–15) prepared under the CEFR have been incorporated into the program to comprehensively address the Turkish language learning needs of the target groups.

The program provides a comprehensive and standards-compliant teaching framework to enable foreign students to use Turkish correctly, fluently, and functionally. Beyond being just a language teaching program, TTFLP represents an educational vision that supports students from different cultures in coming together around a common language in Türkiye and actively participating in the social integration process.