The Simple Form of Contemporary Narrative: Proverbs in Short Story Form and Their Educational Function in Mother Language Education

Atasözü Biçimindeki Küçürek Öyküler

Abstract

The rapid development of the modern age in every field, along with the intense flow of information, has transformed literary forms of expression, paving the way for the development of minimalist genres such as the mini-story. In almost every area, "speed and pleasure" have almost completely enveloped societies and their members. Literature and narrative have also been affected by this. However, this concise narrative tradition, based on the principle of creating profound meaning with few words, has existed in Turkish culture for centuries through proverbs and sayings, and continues to thrive. The main objective of this research is to examine the structural characteristics of "proverbs in the form of mini-stories," considered the simplest form of contemporary narrative, and to reveal the educational function of these texts in mother tongue education. Based on qualitative research methods, specifically document analysis and descriptive content analysis, the study comparatively examines "narrative proverbs" that contain dialogue, internal monologue, and story structure, as well as contemporary mini-stories. The evaluations conducted reveal that the aforementioned proverbs, much like mini-stories, contain economical expression, condensed content, symbolic depth, and gaps requiring reader input. In this context, proverbs are considered not merely fixed expressions, but micro-narratives containing a storyline and a universe of characters. Based on the structural and functional similarities between these two types, the research presents an innovative teaching methodology that can be used in native language education. The results show that reinterpreting or analyzing proverbs in the form of mini-stories provides multifaceted benefits to students' writing, reading, innovative thinking, linguistic awareness, and cultural memory development processes. Ultimately, this study proposes a functional, aesthetic, and interdisciplinary approach to developing educational materials for language teaching processes by establishing an educational link between traditional oral culture elements and contemporary narrative techniques.