The Use of Reported Past Tense in Gossip Narratives: A Study on Turkish Textbooks for Foreigners

The reported past tense is one of the basic grammar topics taught to learners in the teaching of Turkish as a foreign language. It is explained in the Turkish textbooks used for foreign language teaching that this mode has functions of “hearing from another” and “become aware of the events in a later time”. In our daily lives, this mode is not welcomed well to a certain extent in society; however, it is also used in “gossip” in relation to the function of hearing from someone else. Although gossip narratives in Turkish textbooks for foreigners are included as one of the examples of this mode, it is not explained for what purpose this mode serves. In this study, the functions of the reported past tense with “-mIş” morpheme in Turkish were summarized based on the relevant literature and with reference to the literature with the usage of verbs conjugated with “-mIş” suffix in gossip narratives were emphasized; by focusing on how “-mIş” suffix is presented in the textbooks for teaching Turkish to foreigners, the inclusion of gossip-functioned texts in the books were evaluated in a critical approach.


INTRODUCTION
Language is a reflection of societies and is a living and changing holistic notion in our lives. In addition to being a means of communication, languages have an important place in terms of showing us the social characteristics, culture and lifestyle of the society to which they belong through written and oral texts. Literacy is based on basic language skills and interpreting language. Since language changes throughout the time, literacy also undergoes a constant change according to the needs of social life. In a changing and developing world, the concept of literacy has gained a new dimension and it is now a new period in which language users are active in language process and the ability to match what they read with their cultural codes have come into prominence. Ochoa et al. (2016) explain the concept of cultural literacy with the metaphor of crossing from unknown to the known threshold. The individual captures the context in the communication of the target culture and enriches in terms of language ability.
In foreign language classes grammar topics are taught with their functions. The usage of these functions not only indicates the context but also the culture of the society. Grammar is not just a compilation of formulas. It is part of the language which changes over the course of both time and society. Language is intertwined with both society and culture and grammar functions reflects the relationship between Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.10n.4p.100 the culture and language. From this standpoint, it is important to expose learners to these grammar functions and have them take action for using in both real life and foreign language classrooms. For this reason, it is an important issue to include content that makes it possible for the learner to provide active, intercultural interaction and suitable for the flow of social life in teaching sets of Turkish as a foreign language. In teaching Turkish as a foreign/second language, it is thought that grammar elements should be given in accordance with their functions in life. In this context, the aim of this research is to draw attention to gossip function, which is one of the semantic usage areas of the past tense "-mIş" learned in Turkish and to examine how this tense is incorporated to activities and topics in Turkish Teaching Sets for Foreigners. It is also examined that whether the functions of the grammar in cultural aspect is sufficient or not in the activities.
Reported past tense topic in Turkish as a foreign language teaching differs and varies in terms of functions. The reported past tense is a form of tense that we use in Turkish when conveying a situation that is reported to us. According to vowel harmonies of "-mIş" morpheme in the reported past tense, there are four sub-forms and the pronoun-derived personal suffixes are used in the verb conjugation. The negative form of this mode is made by adding -mA morpheme to the verb base, similar to other verb conjugations.
Researchers have various opinions concerning the functions and uses of the reported past tense. Zülfikar (1980, p. 81) refers the reported past tense as "indefinite past tense" and states that the speaker does not witness the given event, and that the speaker may hear about the situation from someone or read it from somewhere. According to Gülensoy (2000, p. 412), the reported past tense suffix is the form of suffix that the concept stated by the verb end before the current time, either by hearing from someone else or anonymously. Korkmaz (2003, pp. 599-607) notes that this suffix, which she states it derives from the adjective-verb "-mIş" in terms of its origin, occurs before the current time of the verb expressing occurrence and behaviour; the speaker does not witness and know, instead s/he learns from someone else or that it functions although the speaker is not aware of or notice later. The most significant difference between the reported and definite past tenses is whether the action or event was seen by the narrator or not.
According to Korkmaz, the functions of "-mIş" suffix, which has been used as a past tense suffix in Turkish since the Old Turkish period, can be summarized as follows (2003, pp. 599-607): 1. For the narration of process and manner of action that are not seen or known by the speaker and heard or learnt from someone else; 2. In narration of verbs expressing process and manner of action that are seen or noticed later by the speaker; 3. In such narrations expressing surprise, bewailment, complaint, mistaking, regret, reproach, disdain and submission; 4. In narrations expressing anger, resentment (objection) and non-acceptance; 5. In narrations of rejoicing and boasting; 6. In narrations of verbs that are based on guessing, acceptance and assumption; 7. In sounding out an action that is known to have taken place for sure. In his explanations about this tense, Ediskun (2005, p. 176), emphasized that the action is realized before the time of speech, that the speaker does not know for sure whether the action is completed, or that s/he hears about the action from someone else or that s/he is aware of it later. According to Ergin (2007, p. 300), this suffix (-mIş) is the form and time suffix that reports an action in the past that is not witnessed. The reported past tense suffix is preferred to describe and report an action taking place in the past that we do not witness at the time it takes place. In this respect, the difference between direct past tense and reported past tense is that one of it is seen-conceived-and the other is not seen-not conceived. Banguoğlu (2007, p. 460) refers to this form of tense as "the indicative tense from the indirect past tenses" and states that "It serves as the expression of a revelation that a person hears from someone else, sees later, or unwittingly acts". Moreover, Gencan (2007, p. 322) names this tense as "-mIş past tense/assumption past tense". According to Gencan, unlike the direct past tense, there is no certainty in time and the speaker does not witness the action; instead, s/he hears it from others or his/her belief in what s/he hears or reads is not certain. Karaağaç (2012, pp. 366-367) gives the following information regarding the reported past tense: a. The reported past tense refers to a happening and doing that has been completed within a certain period in the past and in a certain way; however, it has been reported or its certainty is still unknown. b. In the narrations of fairy tales and anecdotes, the reason why the use of the reported past tense has become a rule is due to the fact that the events mentioned are not based on seeing, yet on hearing. c. When used with such particles as 'belki, galiba, sanırım' and combined with -dIr suffix which expresses amplification and probability, it represents probability and assumption. d. One of the most common uses of the reported past tense is to articulate a situation that is known for certain to have occurred. The reported past tense, as one of the main tenses, is a tense with abundant combined conjugations, reinforced by the -dIr suffix and gives the meaning as though it were the direct past tense. e. The reported past tense suffix draws the stress on itself.
According to Aydemir (2019, pp. 38-42), in Turkish, the "-mIş" predicator refers to the past tense in terms of priority similar to "-dI" suffix. There is no significant difference between the two suffixes. Nevertheless, "-mIş" suffix states "indirectness" and "evidentiality" in addition to the past tense relation. Indirectness represents that the information conveyed in the predicate is obtained by a different means in another way; and "evidentiality" reports the source from which the information is obtained. The functions of "-mIş" suffix are as follows: • Indirect transmission of an event that has already taken place, by hearing it from someone else (Dünkü toplantıda önemli kararlar alınmış.) (Important decisions were taken at yesterday's meeting.) • Transmission of an event that has already taken place based on an evidence or the speaker's findings (Görmeyeli sen de çok değişmişsin.) (You have changed a lot since the last time I saw you.) • In certain cases, although it indicates the past tense, it may not express indirectness or evidentiality. Not much emphasis is placed on this feature. This restriction of indirectness may have resulted from different reasons, such as "drawing attention" or "humbleness" or "the need for a summarizing point of view". In particular, when the first plurality personal suffix is used in the place of the first singularity personal suffix, the meaning of "humbleness" is strengthened. (Biz ki ailemizden böyle görmüşüz.) (That is what we learnt from our family.) • The speaker perceives the events that s/he knows to have taken place; however, s/he remembers years later as "small" and "old" and uses "-mIş" suffix to describe these events. (Demek ilkokul yıllarımı böyle geçirmişim.) (So that is how I spent my primary school years.) • In Turkish, "-mIş" predicator also has aspectual functions. "-mIş suffix" reflects post-terminal perspective; allows the observation of events after the critical limit has been left behind. Therefore, the observed event can be perceived as "occured" (Geç kalmışsınız. Bu vakitte dağa çıkılmaz.) (You are late. You cannot climb the mountain now.) • The -mIş suffix is used as a narrative base. It has also gained a stylistic value as an expression of traditional folk narration. In the definitions of "the reported past tense" in Turkish grammar textbooks, the issues of explaining the actions taking place before the current time, learning from someone else instead of witnessing the action, and noticing an action later stand out as common features. The reported past tense in the Turkish grammar resources written in English for foreigners is presented as follows: Lewis (1973, pp. 90-91) notes that this tense, which he calls "-mIş-past", mostly represents the situation that the 3 rd singular/plural and sometimes the 1 st and 2 nd person singular/plural do not have a definite knowledge of the event that occurred in the past and it is expressed in English as "I gather".
In Rona's (1989, p. 112) book, Turkish in three months, it is stated that "the reported past tense" is used to convey past actions that the speaker does not witness, instead, s/ he has heard from someone and that when translating into English, expressions such as "apparently, so it is said, so I understand" are used.
In his book "Yaşayan Türkçe", Sezer (2002, p. 11) notes that this mode is used to describe events and situations that the speaker does not witness, is not present when the event takes place or is somehow aware of later and that this mode which does not have an equivalent in English, is represented by using such expressions as "they say, I hear/heard, I am told, allegedly, what I hear this, supposedly".
According to Ketrez (2012, p. 103), this mode is used for transferring "hearsay" and "indirect" experience and knowledge and to talk about events that are in the past that we have not witnessed. Furthermore, since it is based on secondary sources, it is mostly used to gossip and to convey what we have heard/read.
When examining Turkish grammar resources written in English for foreigners, apart from Ketrez's "A Student grammar of Turkish", it has been found that the use of this suffix in gossip narrations in Turkish is not included. Instead, it has been stated that this suffix is used only for actions that are reported by someone else and not witnessed. As for the grammar books for native speakers of Turkish, no direct information has been given regarding the use of the reported past tense in gossip narrations; however, it has been thought that "heard from someone else" description is thought to include this function as well.
In accordance with Ketrez's (2012) thoughts on the usage of gossip function, Karahan also has a similar explanation. In Karahan's (2006, p. 99) article "A Study on Gossip Columns in the context of Stylistics and Critical Discourse Analysis", her remarks on the fact that this mode is extensively used in the newspaper's gossip columns confirms that -"mIş" is specific to gossip narrations.
The reported past tense is the mode that foreign learners find the most difficult suffix to acquire and master and they report that they are not able to find an equivalent in their native languages (Erol, 2008, pp. 139-140). For this reason, it is of great importance that how the reported past tense is presented in the teaching of Turkish to foreigners -particularly its representation in the gossip narrations -that we attempt to draw attention within the scope of this study.
In the present study, in accordance with the importance and need mentioned above, the functions of the reported past tense with "-mIş" suffix are summarized based on the relevant literature, how "-mIş" suffix is given in textbooks prepared for teaching Turkish to foreigners is focused on and the use of "-mIş" suffix in gossip narrations is critically evaluated.

METHOD
In the current study, the most frequently used teaching sets in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, Yeni Hitit, İstanbul Yabancılar için Türkçe and Yedi İklim Türkçe were selected. In the aforementioned textbooks, the areas of use of "the reported past tense" and related examples were examined. Therefore, document analysis was used. Document analysis is "data collection by investigating existing records and documents and includes the process of finding, reading and evaluation of note-taking for a specific purpose" (Karasar, 2013, p.77). In this context, firstly, the language level that the reported past tense is taught, is determined in each Turkish teaching set mentioned above. Then, the texts, activities and grammar notes in units are examined and their functions in those parts are determined. The findings were interpreted by comparing them in terms of order of priority in teaching these functions. The reported past tense's gossip function in what order is taught whether is present in any grammar explanation or activities, is examined and listed. Based on those findings, suggestions are made about which functions should be included in which language level and order.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, the order in which the reported past tense is given in Yeni Hitit, İstanbul and Yedi İklim Yabancılar için Türkçe teaching sets among other grammar topics and their functions together with the areas of use were examined and the way this topic is presented has been interpreted by comparing the three teaching sets.
The language level and the order of grammar topics in Turkish teaching sets mentioned above are as follows: As seen in Table 1, the reported past tense is presented at the A2 language level in all three Turkish teaching sets. In Yeni Hitit A2 level textbook, the reported past tense is given after present progressive, past tense and future tense and before the simple present tense. However, in İstanbul Yabancılar için Türkçe A2 language level textbook, the reported past tense is given after past tense, imperative/operative mode, direct past tense and future tense. Finally, in Yedi İklim Yabancılar için Türkçe textbook, the reported past tense is given first followed by simple present tense and imperative mode.
Examining the areas of use of reported past tense in Turkish teaching sets and the presentation of examples regarding the uses is considered necessary in understanding the way the topics (is) are presented in the teaching of Turkish as a foreign language and in making recommendations on which perspective to adopt when teaching this language to foreign/second language learners.

The Reported Past Tense in Yeni Hitit Yabancılar Için Türkçe Teaching Set
In Yeni Hitit Yabancılar için Türkçe I Textbook (Uzun & Dağ Tarcan, 2018, pp. 96-102), tenses are given in the order of the present progressive tense, past tense, future tense, indefinite past tense and simple present tense. However, there is no explanation in the grammar section related to the topic; instead, the conjugation of this form of tense has been found to be included. In the 8 th unit titled "Rivayet Odur ki" ("Rumour has it"), the indefinite past tense is seen to be shown in the reading part through texts in the form of fairy tales and legends. Besides, the reading text, which is based on a scientific research on the concept of gossip called "Dedikodu İçin En Uygun Zaman" (The Best Time for Gossip"), was used and the writing activity on this topic was given. The final activity for the use of gossip is to answer the question of what celebrities did in the past within a framework of a listening activity based on gossip columns in newspapers).

When examining the examples of "-mIş" suffix in Yeni
Hitit Yabancılar için Türkçe teaching set, it has been found that firstly the examples of story and legend are included as the areas of use of the topic. In the relevant unit of the teaching set, the statements of "… Küçük kız büyükannesinin evine gitmiş ve kapıyı çalmış. Kurt içeriden yumuşak bir sesle seslenmiş.","Efsaneye göre Eko adında bir peri kızı bir gün bir avcı görmüş ve ona aşık olmuş." ("… The little girl went to her grandmother's house and knocked on the door. The wolf called out in a soft voice from within", "Legend has it a fairy girl named Eko saw a hunter one day and fell in love with him.") can be given as examples. Then, there is the listening text of this mode regarding the use of "hearing from someone else", which we may encounter in daily life. In the listening transcript, the dialogue "…Öyle miymiş? Kiminle evleniyormuş? Arda adında biriymiş, İstanbulluymuş." ("Was that so? Who did she get married? He was a man named Arda, he was from İstanbul") may be given as an example of the use of the tense to hear from someone else. It is seen that a reading text concerning a research on gossip was included with the intention that this form of tense is used by the people while gossiping. Such information as "İnsanların % 62'si, boş zamanlarında dedikodu yapıyor. İnsanların % 97'si, sırf dedikodu olsun diye dedikodu yapıyor. % 3'ü ise kötü niyetle dedikodu yapıyor." "İnsanların çoğu kötü niyetle dedikodu yapıyormuş, Kadınlar dedikoduyu erkeklerden daha çok seviyormuş."(" 62% of people gossip in their free time. 97% of people gossip just for the sake of gossiping. 3% of them gossip with bad intentions") is given and, then, it was found that these statements were asked to be rewritten by using "-mIş" suffix. In the abovementioned textbook, the areas of use of "-mIş" suffix are presented with a spiral approach; it is noteworthy that combined tense structures in the form of "-yormuş" and "-acakmış" have also been used. The use of combined tense structures within the scope of "-mIş" suffix topic is considered inappropriate for A2 language level acquisitions of foreign/second language learners according to the levels of the Common European Framework for Languages (Council of Europe, 2020).

The Reported Past Tense in İstanbul Yabancılar Için Türkçe Teaching Set
In İstanbul Üniversitesi Yabancılara Türkçe A2 Level Textbook (Bölükbaş & Yılmaz, 2020, pp. 52-60), the reported past tense is given following imperative/operative mode, the direct past tense and future tense and in the 4 th unit, titled "Evvel Zaman İçinde" ("Once Upon A Time"), it is included as a grammar topic with the name of the indefinite past tense. The first topic of this unit is "Kim Ne Yapmış?" ("Who Did What?"), and in the preliminary activities, two questions such as "Sizce dedikodu yapmak nasıl bir davranıştır?" ve "Çevrenizdeki insanlar dedikodu yapıyor mu?" ("What do you think gossip is like?" and "Do the people around you gossip?") are addressed with the aim of focusing the function of reported past tense while gossiping. In the dialogue-based reading text "Yeni Komşu" ("New Neighbour"), the information obtained from other people regarding the life of the new family moving to the apartment, what kind of IJELS 10(4):100-106 people they are, what they do, how old their children are and which school they go to, is conveyed to other neighbours. Following the question-answer part concerning the text, students were also asked the question of "What was the last gossip you heard?" as an activity towards students' speaking skills. Under the grammar heading, it has been added that this mode, which is explained in both Turkish and English as "It is used to describe an event that is heard, learnt or later noticed from another person" titled "Reported Past Tense", does not have an equivalent in English language, yet it can be represented using the expression "apparently". However, this statement does not include the gossip and rumour function emphasized in the selection of texts; the suffix is said to be used to describe an event that was heard, learnt, or later noticed from another person. In the teaching of the topic, fairy tales, legends and anecdotal texts were also used. In İstanbul Üniversitesi Yabancılara Türkçe A2 Level Textbook, the students were asked the question of "Sizce dedikodu yapmak nasıl bir davranıştır? Çevrenizdeki insanlar dedikodu yapıyor mu?" ("What do you think gossip is like?") with the purpose of emphasizing the use of "-mIş" suffix in gossiping. Then, in the reading text, which consists of dialogues, examples regarding the use of this form of tense were presented: "Apartmana yeni bir aile taşınmış, duydun mu?", "Peki kimler taşınmış, nasıl bir aileymiş?", "Yeni bir komşun olmuş, Canan söyledi." ("A new family has moved to the apartment, have you heard of it?", "So who has moved, what kind of family is it?", "You have a new neighbour, Canan told me."). In other parts of the unit, the use of "-mIş" suffix is included in fairy tales and legends. In the reading text, the statement of "Bir varmış, bir yokmuş. Keloğlan adında yoksul bir çocuk varmış." ("Once upon a time, there was a poor boy named Keloğlan"), and in the listening transcript, "Sultan kızını yılanlardan korumak için kuleye kapatmış." ("The Sultan locked his daughter in the tower to protect her from snakes") can be given as examples of the use of "-mIş" suffix. In İstanbul Üniversitesi Yabancılara Türkçe A2 Level Textbook, it has been seen that the use of "-mIş" suffix was associated with daily events and attempted to be transmitted by hearing from someone else, through fairy tales and legends; however, it has been understood that a spiral approach was adopted in teaching.

The Reported Past Tense in Yedi İklim Yabancılar Için Türkçe Teaching Set
In Yedi İklim Yabancılar için Türkçe A2 Level Textbook (Ateş et al., 2022, pp. 9-26), edited by Yunus Emre Institute, the reported past tense is titled "Reported Past Tense" and it is included as a grammar topic in A2 level in the first unit called "Zaman Mekân" ("Time and Place"); however, the topic is not explained grammatically. The selected texts related to the topic are in the genre of legends and fairy tales. The other activity related to the topic is, depending on the text of the dialogue, narrating the events in the text by answering the questions and completing with an indefinite past tense suffix. The reported past tense, which is used to convey what is heard/read, also includes the usage of gossip in this activity.
In Yedi İklim Yabancılar için Türkçe A2 Level Textbook, when examining the examples regarding the use of -mIş suffix, it has been found in the first place that there are examples of "hearing from someone else" that will be used in legends and then in daily life. The statement of "Bir köylünün iki kızı varmış. Bir gün bu iki kardeş ovaya odun toplamaya gitmişler." ("A peasant had two daughters. One day, these two sisters went to the plain to collect firewood)" can be given as an example of the use of legend. As for the use of "hearing from someone else" to be used in daily life, in the reading text consisting of dialogues, there is a one-sentence usage as "Anne müjde! İş başvurumu kabul etmişler." ("Mom, I have good news! They have accepted my job application)" and no other usage of "-mIş" suffix was included in the text. In the abovementioned textbook, it is seen that the usage of definite past tense, present progressive tense, future tense and indefinite past tense were attempted to be given at the same time which may refer to the lack of both adopting a spiral approach in teaching and an organized topic presentation.

EVALUATION AND RESULTS
Gossip is a behaviour pattern that is regarded as inappropriate and undesirable in our society, yet it is a part of our daily lives. We often encounter (with) gossip not only in our conversations, but also in written, visual, and social media. Gossip and dialogues, which we can express as conversations concerning the private lives of celebrities or the people we know closely such as family, friends and also neighbours, have also found a place in textbooks prepared for foreigners. Nevertheless, in our opinion, in the teaching of Turkish as a foreign/second language, the areas of usage of the reported past tense, the main emphasis should be placed upon such areas of use of "hearing from someone else", "noticing later" and "benefiting from it in stories and fairy tales". When evaluating the fact that a discourse function like gossip is given at a basic level in terms of learner priorities, it should not be a proper choice. As a matter of fact, Çalışkan (2020, pp. 207, 231), prepared a vocabulary list for A1 and A2 levels by using the range and frequency criterion, Although it was seen in three of the four teaching sets, she explained that she didn't include "gossip" in the final list and said that "it is incompatible with the context of social relations in which the basic level learners will be involved", even though it is statistically significant. Indeed, gossiping and participating in conversations in the context of gossip is not a priority for basic language learners. It is useful to consider this function of the suffix at more advanced levels. In terms of foreign language literacy, it has been thought that the concept of gossip in a cultural sense should be taught to foreign/second language learners; however, this function is not a priority for A2 language level, and it should be presented to learners at more advanced language levels.
In the study conducted by Altuntaş Gürsoy and Türken (2020), it is stated that the evidential category marked with the "-mIş" morpheme is used in different situations depending on the context and that this structure is an important subject in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, since this structure is not available in all languages. In the study, the units with the evidential category in the Turkish teaching sets for foreigners were examined, and it was stated which uses of this category were mostly included. This study, on the other hand, differs in that the use of the -mIş morpheme in the gossip function is examined in terms of its use in Turkish teaching sets for foreigners, it is suggested at what stage it should be given, and it deals with the cultural-social evaluation of grammatical issues.
When examining the areas of usage of the reported past tense in Turkish teaching sets for foreigners, in Yeni Hitit Yabancılar İçin Türkçe textbook, it has been found that the usage of "-mIş" suffix is given through the examples of story and legends firstly and then, the examples regarding the usage of this mode "hearing from someone else" that we may encounter in our daily lives are included. The most significant difference detected in this teaching set compared to other Turkish teaching sets is that they included combined tense uses such as "-acakmış" and "-yormuş". The appropriateness of the inclusion of this combined tense uses at A2 level should be reconsidered based on language outcomes and learner competences according to level of the Common European Framework for Languages (Council of Europe, 2020). The fact that these conjugations are included in Yeni Hitit Yabancılar İçin Türkçe textbook is important in terms of showing that the general tendency is in the opposite direction.
As for the examples of "-mIş" suffix in Yedi İklim Yabancılar İçin Türkçe A2 textbook, legends are included in the first place followed by examples of "hearing from someone else" to be used in daily life. The remarkable difference in this teaching set is that present progressive tense, future tense and definite past tense are given together in a unit in addition to "-mIş" suffix. This situation may adversely affect the teaching and learning process, particularly since it does not comply with the principle of "one structure at a time", which is critical at the basic level. Here, the choice of the text genre such as legend, poses certain problems since the usage of the suffix in these texts is not a priority for the learner at the basic level. Furthermore, as Çalışkan points out, the selection of such texts brings the geographical environment and elements that are not a priority at the basic level and it is not likely to present the elements of the accompanying vocabulary in a way that generates lexical consistency (2020, pp. 29-30).
In İstanbul Üniversitesi Yabancılar için Türkçe A2 textbook, the use of "-mIş" suffix begins with the theme of "gossip" in the warming activities and continues with the use of hearing from someone else, story and legends respectively. It has been understood that a spiral approach has been attempted to be adopted in the expression of the grammar topic.
In İstanbul Üniversitesi Yabancılar için Türkçe A2 textbook, it has been found that the texts containing gossip are selected in the form of dialogue-based texts and magazine columns, and these texts are associated with the reported past tense (-mIş suffix). When examining the grammar resources prepared for the Turkish, the relationship of the reported past tense with the concept of gossip is not given directly and clearly; however, the expression that this tense is used in the transmission of "heard from someone else" has been thought to include this function as well.
Among the resources of Turkish grammar written in English prepared for foreigners, the study "A Student Grammar of Turkish" prepared by Nihan Ketrez clearly states that this mode is used to gossip in Turkish: "It is generally used to gossip and to convey what we have heard/read since it is based on secondary resources" (2012, p. 103).
To sum up, although the expression "gossip" is avoided in Turkish grammar resources, both in Yeni Hitit and İstanbul Yabancılar İçin Türkçe teaching sets, which are among the first and most important sources among teaching Turkish as a foreign language resources, and are used in institutions both in Turkey and abroad, have included gossip function in the teaching of the reported past tense. They also considered the everyday use of the language and included texts written in reported past tense as instruments for reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills. However, as stated above, it is not appropriate for the language learners at the basic level to prioritize this function of the suffix "-mIş". It has been recommended that this issue should be reconsidered in the context of the language teaching practices in textbooks.