Muallim Mehmed Feyzî’s Views on Teaching the Turkish Language

Abstract

With the influence of Ottomanism, which began with the proclamation of the Tanzimat Edict, awareness began to emerge regarding the teaching of Turkish, its recognition as the language of science, literature, and governance, as well as issues related to the alphabet in use, spelling, and educational practices. In this context, many Turkish intellectuals discussed topics such as the simplification and popularization of Turkish in various media, the inconsistency of its spelling, the reformation of the alphabet, the lack of resources in language teaching, the presence of foreign words in Turkish, the determination of its grammatical rules, and the need for a comprehensive grammar book. They published articles expressing their views on the subjects. The subject of this study is an article by Mehmed Feyzî, a teacher of Turkish at Mahmûdiye School (today’s Pertevniyal High School), which was published in the 62nd, 63rd, 64th, and 65th issues of İtisâm Journal. The study employed document analysis. The views expressed by Muallim Mehmed Feyzî in this article were evaluated under the following categories: “Methodology in Teaching Ottoman Language, Turkishness in Language, Turkish Curriculum, Teaching Arabic and Persian, Borrowed Words, and the Status of Textbooks”. As a result of the examination and evaluation, it was understood that Muallim Mehmed Feyzi’s thoughts about the most important deficiency in the teaching of Lisân-ıOsmânî stemmed from the lack of a reasonable and acceptable method and course curriculum. He emphasized the need for a course curriculum prepared by experts, argued that simplification efforts in the language were unnecessary, and highlighted the importance of preparing simple and comprehensible textbooks that consider the students' levels. Additionally, he asserted that the grammar rules of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, which are components of Ottoman Turkish, could not be effectively taught through a single course and textbook.