Being an Exchange Student in Turkey: Adaptation to a New Culture

Abstract

Late adolescence is a critical period of development during which individuals experience crucial changes in their social lives. Several developmental tasks appear during this transition to be accomplished by the late adolescents in order to achieve adulthood and to develop healthy psychological and social functioning. A significant task in this developmental stage is developing the ability to adapt to a new environment. This ability includes the processes of how the late adolescents effectively integrate themselves to a new culture, how they become efficient members of this new culture, and how they make sense of the elements in the new culture. In order to explore the adaptation ability, this study aimed at describing what sorts of experiences that exchange students had while they pursued some of their studies abroad. The participants were 50 undergraduate and graduate students who were attending two higher education institutions in Turkey. They were predominantly from three different regions: (a) European Union, (b) North America, and (c) Other (Australia and Ukraine). There were three main data sources: Focus group meetings were held approximately twice in a month in three rounds. The first round was done with 22 students in Ankara during October-December 2008. The second one was done with 7 students in Canakkale during December 2009 and January 2010, and the third round with 21 students in Canakkale during October-December 2010. In addition to the interviews, the participants were also asked to note down their adaptation experiences. The participants were also asked to complete a short survey after they returned to their countries. The results basically showed that the adaptation to a new culture was modifying the clashing elements between host culture and native culture and modifying those elements according to the rules in the host culture

Keywords

• Adolescents, Adaptation, Content Analysis, Exchange Students