Ankara University TÖMER, Turkish and Foreign Languages Application and Research Centre, was founded in 1984 as a part of Ankara University for the purpose of teaching Turkish to foreigners and was the one and only institution at that time in Turkey to teach Turkish as a foreign language to foreigners. TÖMER took the Turkish language, already spoken worldwide, as a “project” and supported the teaching of Turkish as a foreign language so that this field could be based on an academic basis.
In the academic year of 1989 - 1990, TÖMER undertook the task of teaching such foreign languages as English, French and German as well. This feature earned TÖMER the identity of “a scientific-based language centre” and made it possible for TÖMER to develop method and techniques to be applied in the teaching of foreign languages. Many other foreign languages as well as Turkic languages of Central Asian countries were gradually added to the list.
Today, as many as 20 languages including Turkish, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, modern Greek, Dutch, Bulgarian, Chinese, Ottoman Turkish, and Arabic are taught in TÖMER. Ankara University TÖMER has 11 branches in 7 cities all over Turkey and about 55,000 students per year.
PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHMENT
TÖMER’s purpose of establishment is to teach Turkish to foreigners and foreign languages to anyone who would like to learn, to be engaged in education, research, study and broadcast fields to follow this purpose, and to pioneer in studies these fields.
SCOPE OF WORK
TÖMER’s scope of work is to establish branches all over Turkey to teach Turkish and foreign languages, to provide private and general courses in these branches, to execute tests and exams to evaluate projected language proficiency, to bring innovation to language teaching by conducting scientific research in the field, to share cutting edge developments and discoveries with academic world in language teaching by organizing scientific symposiums, to promote language learning by arranging social and cultural activities, to team up work groups to develop language teaching materials, and to prepare course books.
For more information: http://tomer.ankara.edu.tr/