DOI: 10.17984/adyuebd.1682303 ISSN: 2149-2727

Comparison of TDK and ChatGPT in Terms of Abstract Word Descriptions in Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

Tuğçe Yarici, Demet Kardaş
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The aim of this study is to evaluate how abstract words found in the B1-level coursebook of the *Yedi İklim Turkish Teaching Set* prepared by the Yunus Emre Institute are explained by the Turkish Language Association’s (TDK) Online Turkish Dictionary and by the AI-supported tool ChatGPT, and to reveal the potential contributions of these explanations to language learners. Within the scope of the research, the document analysis method, one of the qualitative research designs, was employed; 58 reading texts were examined and 51 abstract words were selected. Each of these words was queried in both TDK and ChatGPT and compared in terms of definitions and example sentences. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis under the categories of depth of meaning, presentation of context, cultural competence, presence of example usages, and pedagogical value. The findings indicate that TDK provides brief, technical, and occasionally archaic explanations, whereas ChatGPT offers more comprehensive, explanatory, culturally sensitive, and pedagogically enriched descriptions. Consequently, this study demonstrates that AI-supported tools can be used as effective supplementary resources, particularly in the teaching of abstract concepts, and emphasizes the conscious integration of such technologies into language education.

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