History of Turkish language education in the process of educational modernisation of Ottoman: from the 1770s to 1890s

Abstract

It is commonly acknowledged that the roots of contemporary education in Turkey have been cultivated following the declaration of the republic in 1923 and previous accounts are rarely mentioned. This mindset is similar for several fields except for areas such as religious education and moral education. The research related to the history of teaching of Turkish mostly focuses on the republic period, ignoring the Ottoman eras. The aim of this study is to reveal the state of Turkish language teaching in general educational institutions from the modernisation of education in Ottoman era to the 1890s. To serve this purpose, programme regulations were fundamentally designated as review materials. In the research, it was deduced that, over the 70 years, an immense teetering and indecisiveness were experienced in Turkish teaching. However, based on the frequency, the education was divided into certain areas in different levels. It was revealed that the teaching focused on alphabet, grammar, writing, and reading in primary education; spelling, grammar, reading, and writing at the elementary level; and writing, spelling, grammar, and literary knowledge in high school teaching.