An Investigation of the Return Motives, Turkish and German Identity Perceptions and Language Preferences of Second and Third-Generation Turkish-German Returnees
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AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RETURN MOTIVES, TURKISH AND GERMAN IDENTITY PERCEPTIONS AND LANGUAGE PREFERENCES OF SECOND AND THIRD-GENERATION TURKISH-GERMAN RETURNEES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY HAVVA ÖZTÜRK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AUGUST 2019 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sadettin Kirazcı Director (Acting) I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek Supervisor This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Perihan Savaş (METU, FLE) Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek (METU, FLE) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emine Yarar (Hacettepe Uni., IDB) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Havva Öztürk Signature: iii ABSTRACT AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RETURN MOTIVES, TURKISH AND GERMAN IDENTITY PERCEPTIONS AND LANGUAGE PREFERENCES OF SECOND AND THIRD-GENERATION TURKISH-GERMAN RETURNEES Öztürk, Havva M.A., Department of English Language Teaching Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek August 2019, 177 pages The aim of the present thesis is to explore the return motives, Turkish and German identity perceptions, and Turkish and German language preferences of second and third-generation Turkish-German returnees. A total of 93 informants participated in the study (10 second-generation and 83 third-generation). A mixed method research design was adopted in the study. The data was collected by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. In the analysis of the data, SPSS 24 and MAXQDA 2018 were used. The results of the study indicated that the Turkish identity identification scores were significantly higher than the German identity identification scores, which indicates that Turkish-German returnees identify with their Turkish identity significantly higher than their German identity. Additionally, a significant positive relationship was found between a sense of belonging to the Turkish identity and language preference. In addition, no significant difference was found between the Turkish and German proficiency levels of the Turkish German returnees, which indicates that Turkish-German returnees are balanced bilinguals iv who are proficient users of both languages. In addition, while participants prefer Turkish more than German, they continue to use German across different topics and in different procedures. During the qualitative data analyses process, the overarching themes emerged were integration to Germany, perceived discrimination in the host society, post-return experiences in the country of origin (adaptation to Turkey, perceived discrimination), and difficulties related to Turkish language proficiency. According to the qualitative data analysis, it was seen that Turkish migrants were successfully integrated into Germany and a failure to integrate was not a determinant of the return itself. Discrimination was also found to be a factor which cannot solely explain the return decision of the participants. Moreover, the post-return difficulties reported by the participants were mostly associated with language, differences between the two countries in terms of way of life and education. Keywords: Identity, Language Proficiency, Language Preference, Return Motives, Transnationalism v ÖZ ALMANYA’DAN DÖNÜŞ YAPAN İKİNCİ VE ÜÇÜNCÜ JENERASYON TÜRKLER’İN DÖNÜŞ SEBEPLERİNİN, TÜRK VE ALMAN KİMLİK ALGILARININ, TÜRKÇE VE ALMANCA DİL TERCİHLERİNİN İNCELENMESİ Öztürk, Havva Yüksek Lisans., İngiliz Dili Öğretimi Tez Danışmanı: Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek Ağustos 2019, 177 sayfa Bu tezin amacı Almanya’dan Türkiye’ye dönüş yapan ikinci ve üçüncü jenerasyon Türk göçmenlerin dönüş sebeplerini, Türk Alman kimlik algılarını ve dil tercihlerini incelemektir. A Çalışmada 10 ikinci jenerasyon ve 83 üçüncü jenerasyon olmak üzere toplam 93 katılımcı yer almıştır. Çalışmada karma araştırma yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Veriler anketler ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Data analizinde, SPSS 24 ve MAXQDA 2018 programları kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonucunda katılımcıların Türk kimlikleri ile Alman kimlikleri arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamı bir fark bulunmuştur. Katılımcıların Türk kimliğine ait skorları Alman kimliğine ait skorlarına göre istatistiksel olarak anlamlı derecede yüksetir, bu da katılımcılarının Türk kimliğine daha yakın olduğunu göstermektedir. Aynı zamanda, Türk kimliğine yönelik aidiyet hissi ile dil tercihi arasında anlamlı bir pozitif korelasyon bulunmuştur. Ayrıca, katılımcıların Türkçe ve Almanca dil yeterlilikleri arasında anlamı bir fark bulunmamaktadır. Bu vi sonuçlar katılımcıların her iki dilde de yeterliliği sahibi dengeli ikil olduklarını göstermektedir. Katılımcılar genel anlamda Türkçe’yi Almanca’dan daha çok tercih etmelerine rağmen, hala Almanca’yı farkı konu ve durumlarda kullanmaya devam etmektedirler. Nitel araştırma verilerinin analizinde ortaya çıkan kodlar Almanya’ya entegrasyon, Almanya’da hissedilen ırkçılık, Türkiye’ye dönüş sonrası yaşanan zorluklar (Türkiye’ye adaptasyon, Türkiye’de hissedilen ırkçılık), ve Türkçe ile alakalı yaşanılan zorluklar olmuştur. Nitel araştırma analiz sonuçlarına göre Türkler Almanya’ya başarılı bir biçimde entegre olmuşlardır ve de entegre olamama tek başına geri dönüşün sebebi değildir. Benzer şekilde ayrımcılık da katılımcıların dönüş kararlarını tek başına açıklayabilecek bir faktör değildir. Katılımcıların dönüş sonrası yaşadığı zorluklar genellikle dil ve iki ülke arasında yaşam tarzı ve eğitim sistem farklılıklarıyla alakalıdır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Kimlik, Dil Yeterliliği, Dil Tercihi, Dönüş Sebepleri, Ulusötesicilik vii To my weak self viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “Everything looks impossible until it is done”. This was the summary of my thesis writing process. The biggest difficulty ahead of me was persuading myself that I could write my thesis. During this process, the biggest help I needed was motivation and guidance. Therefore, I am eternally grateful to each and every one who helped me find the motivation and guidance that I needed to complete my thesis process successfully. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my dear thesis supervior Prof.Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek. Throughout the whole process, she was very motivating, understanding and helpful. She provided answers to all my questions with her profound knowledge and was also as enthusiastic as me about our cooperation. I really felt her excitement and eagerness to help me whenever I was in need. Also, she was very flexible and helped me relieve my stress during the process. I also would like to express my gratitude to my committee members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Perihan Savaş and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emine Yarar for the constructive feedback they provided. I also owe gratitude to Bengü Usal Ülken for helping with the data collection process. I wouldn't have completed my thesis without her help. I am also indebted to my family members, friends and collegues who have been very motivating and helpful. They facilitated this stressfull process with both the psychological and the academic help that they offered. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ......................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ xiii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xv LIST OF GraphS ................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Background of the Study .............................................................................. 1 1.2. Turkish Migration to Germany .................................................................... 4 1.3. Turkish Return from Germany to Turkey .................................................. 13 1.4. Aim of the Study ........................................................................................ 19 1.5. Research Questions .................................................................................... 19 1.6. Significance of the Study ........................................................................... 20 1.7. Limitations of the Study ............................................................................. 21 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................