Iraqi Turks’ Language Preferences in Education
The aim of this research is to identify the language Turks living in Iraq mostly prefer and feel is appropriate for their children’s education and to discover their ideas on this topic. The target group consists of 474 Turks living in provinces such as Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Erbil, and Mosul, where the Turk population is especially focused. The study “Iraqi Turks’ Language Preferences in Education” uses a researcher-developed personal information form as well as a language preference questionnaire to collect the data. Pearson Chi-square test was used in the analysis of the data. As a result, 33.5% of respondents were found to prefer Arabic as the language of education and 33.3% to prefer a multilingual education language with Turkish and Arabic as the language of instruction.
Irak Türklerinin Eğitimde Dil Tercihleri
Bu araştırmanın amacı, Irak’ta yaşayan Türklerin çocukları için tercih ettikleri eğitim dili ve uygun gördükleri genel eğitim diline yönelik düşüncelerini tespit etmektir. Araştırma grubunu Irak’ta Türklerin yoğunlukla bulundukları ve diğer etnik gruplarla bir arada yaşadıkları Kerkük, Selahaddin, Erbil ve Musul illerindeki 474 Türk katılımcı oluşturmaktadır. Veri toplama aracı olarak araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanan “Kişisel Bilgi Formu” ve Türk katılımcılara yönelik dil tercihi anketi kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde Pearson Ki-kare testi kullanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda çocukların eğitim dili olarak %33,5 oranında en çok Arapça tercih edilirken genel eğitim dili %33,3 oranında en çok iki dilli (Türkçe ve Arapça dillerinde) eğitim olması tercih edilmiştir.
This study examines Iraqi Turks’ language preferences regarding their children’s education using a 4-point Likert-type scale. There are questions such as “Which language would you prefer your children to be educated in?”, “Which of the following languages do you think should be the language of instruction in schools?” Among the answers preferences such as (Arabic), T (Iraqi Turkish), K (Kurdish), D (other) were given. This study uses the relational survey model design, a general survey model based on quantitative research methods, and adopted the questionnaire technique Bosnalı (2007) developed as its data collection technique. Turks are defined as the third most-populous ethnic group in Iraq today, and the research chose from among those living in the Iraqi provinces of Kirkuk, Mosul, Erbil, and Selaheddin as its universe.
Based on the Iraqi population indicators from these four provinces for 2021 (Central Statistical Organization of Iraq, 2021), the total population was determined as 9,483,924. The population of the subjects was reduced by 0.00005, and a sample of 474 Turkish participants was formed. This study has preferred the random sampling method for selecting the participants, of whom 51.7% of are men and 48.3% are women. The participant group is divided into four age categories. Accordingly, the first group consists of 120 people (25.3%) between the ages of 10-19 years old, the second group consists of 119 people (25.1%) between the ages of 20-34, the third group consists of 122 people (25.7%) between the ages of 35-49, and the fourth group consists of 113 people (23.8%) aged 50 or older. The study has also divided the participants into six occupational groups, of which 3.8% are retired, 10.5% are housewives, 29.7% are students, 6.5% are unemployed, 14.8% work in the private sector, and 34.6% are government officials. The study has also considered the participants in five groups regarding education status, with 11 (2.3%) being illiterate; 28 (5.9%) being literate but didn’t finish primary school; 53 (11.2%) being primary school graduates; 120 (25.3%) being secondary school, high school, or equivalent graduates; and 262 (5.3%) being college, undergraduate, or higher-level graduates. The participants’ places of birth and places of residence have also been taken into account, the province of Saladin being represented by 85 people (18.0%), Kirkuk by 85 people (18.0%), Erbil by 100 people (21.0%), and Mosul with 204 people (43.0%). Of the participants residing in these provinces, 311 (65.5%) live in urban areas, while 163 people (34.4%) live in rural areas. All of the respondents have a Turkish ethnicity and a native language of is Iraqi Turkmen dialect of Turkish. The native languages of the participants’ mothers is Iraqi Turkmen Turkish for 95.8%, Arabic for 1.9%, and Kurdish for 2.3%, while the native language of the participants’ fathers is Iraqi Turkmen Turkish for 93.5%, Arabic for 5.1%, and Kurdish for 1.5%.
In order to determine the participants’ language preferences for their children regarding education, the questions were evaluated in terms of six parameters: gender, age, occupation, educational status, place of residence, urban and rural). Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the Pearson chi-square test to determine the direction of significance.
This study examines the language preferences that Iraqi Turks living in the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Mosul, and Erbil have with regard to their children’s education. Arabic is seen to be the most preferred language. According to the chi-square test, no statistically significant relationship exists between the participants’ preferred language of education with their gender, age, occupation, educational status, or social status, while a significant relationship was found to exist between the participants’ preferred language of education and place of residence. Turkish is preferred by 49.4% of the participants living in Kirkuk, Arabic by 49.4% of the participants living in Salahaddin, and Kurdish by 3.0% of the participants living in Erbil. Multilanguage education (Turkish and Arabic) are mostly preferred in the province of Salahaddin at a rate of 28.2% of the participants. Multilingual education is preferred in Erbil by 12.0% of the participants who live there. The results also show 33.5% of the participants to prefer their children’s language of education to mostly be Arabic. The reason for this is thought to be due to the fact that the official language of the state is Arabic as well as no universities existing in Iraq that provide education in Turkish. No significant relationship was observed to be present between the preferred general language of education with the variables of gender, occupation, educational status, or social status. However, significant differences were observed when examining the categories of age and place of residence.
