Besir Gogus - Linguist, Educator, and Writer

Beşir Göğüş (12 February 1915, Gaziantep - 17 August 1999, Yalova) was a linguist, educator, and writer in Turkey. He dedicated his efforts to equipping students with speaking and writing skills in their native language, making significant contributions to Turkish education with numerous grammar and Turkish language books. His Turkish language book for primary schools was used in all primary schools in Turkey until the mid-1980s.


Life:
Born in Gaziantep in 1915, Beşir Göğüş completed his primary and middle school education in Gaziantep and graduated from Gaziantep Teachers College in 1933. He later completed the Language and Literature Department of Gazi Institute of Education in Ankara in 1938. In the same year, he started working as an assistant in Phonetic and Diction at Ankara State Conservatory.
While working as an assistant, he also worked as Deputy Director and Turkish teacher at the School of Music Teachers. Due to the abolition of the assistantship position, he continued his duties as a Turkish teacher and deputy director at various secondary schools and high schools in Ankara between 1939 and 1950. Beşir Göğüş got married in 1942 and had two daughters.


In 1944, he started writing books for secondary schools through a competition organized by the Ministry of National Education. He received awards for the Turkish books he prepared in collaboration with the educational writer Kemal Demiray. 

In 1950, he became the founding principal of Namık Kemal Primary and Secondary School, which would function as the practice school of Gazi Institute of Education, in the Saraçoğlu neighborhood of Ankara. In 1954, he was appointed as the rapporteur of the Board of Education and Discipline of the Ministry of National Education.

Between 1959 and 1960, he went to the United States by the assignment of the Ministry of National Education to examine high school equivalent school programs. During these examinations, he collected publications on mother tongue education and worked on this subject for a while when he returned to the country. In the following years, he wrote the books "Turkish Teaching Guide in Primary Schools" (1968) and "Turkish and Literature Education in Secondary Schools" (1978) by utilizing these sources.


In 1963, he was appointed as the Deputy General Director of Teacher Training Schools in the Ministry of National Education, and in 1964, he was appointed as the chief inspector.
In 1966, he retired and started working as a director at the Turkish Language Association (TDK). During this duty, he represented TDK in the Atatürk Institute of the People's Houses and served as its president for a year. In 1975, he left TDK at his own request and continued his studies on Turkish language and education until the end of his life.

In 1981, he won the competition for the Turkish coursebook for primary schools organized by the Ministry of National Education, and until the mid-1980s, his book was used in all primary schools in Turkey without being subject to any selection. 

In 1981, he joined the work of the International Mother Tongue Education Organization established in the Netherlands. As of 1982, he became the representative of this organization in Turkey and prepared researches titled "Teaching Turkish as a Mother Tongue in Turkey" and "Bibliography of Mother Tongue Education in Turkey" upon the request of this organization.

Beşir Göğüş passed away in the earthquake in Yalova on August 17, 1999, along with his wife and daughter.

Contributions to Linguistics:
Beşir Göğüş aimed to free the passive tradition of "read and tell" in mother tongue education and to gain an effective and efficient method. For this purpose, he defended the versatile application of "understanding and telling" used in all areas of Western societies and also wrote textbooks to support this method. The textbooks he prepared from 1945 onwards were used in schools for many years.

Beşir Göğüş has ten sets of books that include Turkish, grammar books, and dictionaries among his works. He also published seven books, one of which is a translation, explaining these methods to teachers and showing the ways of application. In addition, his articles and research on education, language, and literature were published.

His works include "Ziya Gökalp and the Language Revolution" (1975) and "Turkish Teaching Guide in Primary Schools" (1981).

Awards:

• Ministry of National Education Award for the best Turkish book for primary schools (1981)
• TÖMER Award (1984)
• Turkish Education Association (TED) Service Award in Education (1992)

Selected Works:

• "Selected Essays, Selected Books, for Secondary School I, II, and III grades" (1950, with Nurullah Ataç)
• "Individual Teaching and Group Studies" (Translation from F. Mory, 1956)
• "Useful Grammar for Secondary Schools I, II, and III grades" (1959)
• "Teaching Turkish in Primary Schools Guide" (1968)
• "Turkish Dictionary" (1968, with Hamdi Olcay)
• "A Historical Overview of Teaching Turkish as a Mother Tongue" (1970)
• "Illustrated Children's Dictionary" (1971)
• "Ziya Gökalp and the Language Revolution" (1975)
• "Turkish and Literature Education in Secondary Schools" (1978)
• "Turkish, for Primary School I, II, III, IV, V grades" (1981)
• "Turkish Coursebooks Teacher Guides for Primary Schools" (1982)
• "Turkish Grammar, Reading, Listening, Expression, for Primary School IV, V grades" (1989)
• "Turkish Teacher's Book" (1990)
• "Oral and Written Expression" (Open Education Faculty textbook of Anadolu University, 1991)
• "Teacher Guide for Secondary Schools in Turkish" (1992)
• "Turkish for Vocational High Schools, I, II, III grades" (1992, with H. Saral-E. Saral)
• "Dictionary of Expression Terms" (1998)
• "Dictionary of Literary Terms" (1998, with F. Oğuzkan, O. Önertoy, M. Ünlü, S. Koçak)
• "Documents Left Behind" (2018, His writings, essays, and speech texts - published posthumously by the Language Association)
• "Knots Thoughts Memories" (2019, published posthumously by the Language Association)

References;

1. "Beşir Göğüş'ün Yaşamöyküsü". www.dildernegi.org.tr. 26 Temmuz 2023 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 10 Eylül 2023.
2. "International Mother-Tongue Education Network | UIA Yearbook Profile | Union of International Associations". uia.org. 6 Mart 2022 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
3. Göğüş, Beşir (1984). "Hollanda'da Uygulanan Bir Yazma Eğitimi Yöntemi ve Örnekleri". EĞİTİM VE BİLİM. 9 (49). ISSN 1300-1337. 30 Mayıs 2020 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
4. Göğüş, Beşir (1 Ocak 1963). "Türkçe'de Bileşik Kelime Oluşumu ve Nasıl Yazılması Gerektiği". Türk Dili Araştırmaları Yıllığı - Belleten. 10: 245-264. ISSN 0564-5050.
5. "Anadili olarak Türkçenin öğretimine tarihsel bir bakış". katalog.tdk.gov.tr. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
6. "Anadili olarak Türkçenin öğretimine tarihsel bir bakış Beşir Göğüş". katalog.tdk.gov.tr. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
7. Yılmaz, Mehmet (2015). Ahmet Oktay Şiiri: Toplumcu Gerçekçilikten Eleştirel Toplum Teorisine. Hece. ISBN 978-605-9954-73-0.
8. "Kurucular". www.dildernegi.org.tr. 11 Ağustos 2023 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
9. "Beşir Göğüş Kimdir? Hayatı ve Eserleri". Türk Edebiyatçılar İnternet Ansiklopedisi. 15 Kasım 2021. 27 Mart 2023 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
10. "BGG 017 Gaziantep'te doğan Beşir Göğüş 1999 depreminde eşiyle kızıyla birlikte yaşamını yitirdi (Benim Güzel Gazianteplilerim) Şiiri - Fevzi Günenç". Antoloji.com. 3 Ekim 2023 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
11. "İlkokullarda Türkçe Öğretimi Kılavuzu, Beşir Göğüş" (PDF). 2 Temmuz 2022 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi (PDF). Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
12. "Beşir Göğüş'ün Dilinden". www.dildernegi.org.tr. 22 Mart 2023 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
13. "Beşir Göğüş Ödülü". www.dildernegi.org.tr. 26 Temmuz 2023 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Eylül 2023.
14. "Beşir Göğüş ödülü Çotuksöken'in oldu". Hürriyet. hurriyet.com.tr. 9 Mart 2018 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 9 Mart 2018.
15. "Beşir Göğüş'e 95. doğum günü armağanı". Milliyet. milliyet.com.tr. 10 Şubat 2010. 11 Mart 2018 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 10 Mart 2018.

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