A Systematic Review of Doctoral Dissertations on Turkish Language Teaching in Primary Education

This study aims to systematically examine doctoral dissertations focused on the teaching of Turkish language in primary education from bibliometric, methodological, findings, and recommendation perspectives. The study adopted a systematic review methodology and was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Within this framework, a search was performed in the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education (YÖKTEZ) database using the keywords “primary education,” “elementary education,” “classroom education”, “teaching Turkish language” and “Turkish education”. The search was limited to the years 2022–2025 in order to reveal current research trends. A total of 486 doctoral dissertations were identified, and 57 dissertations were included in the study based on predefined inclusion criteria, namely being conducted in the context of primary education and directly addressing Turkish language teaching. The dissertations were analyzed through descriptive content analysis. The findings indicate that doctoral dissertations are bibliometrically concentrated in a limited number of universities and that dissertation production peaked in 2022. Methodologically, most studies were descriptive in nature and primarily aimed to portray the current state of affairs, with quantitative and mixed-method designs being predominantly preferred. Thematically, the development of reading and writing skills, critical writing, digital literacy, and technology-supported instructional practices were prominent, whereas studies focusing on listening and speaking skills remained limited. The findings obtained from the reviewed research were categorized under the themes of cognitive and academic development, affective and participatory development, and methodological and pedagogical innovations. Overall, the reviewed studies emphasize reading and writing development, student-centered approaches, and higher-order thinking skills, while highlighting the need for more practice-based, long-term, and holistic instructional models in Turkish language teaching.