MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND ITS IMPACT ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF MILITARY CADETS AT TMA
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The purpose of the study was three-fold: First, to determine the perspectives of the international and Turkish military cadets at Turkish Military Academy (TMA) towards multicultural learning environment and cultural diversity. Second, to analyze to what extent the multicultural learning environment affects the language development of both international and Turkish cadets. Third, to identify the observations and suggestions of language instructors about the best practices to be applied in multicultural learning setting. A questionnaire and two proficiency tests were applied on 80 cadets for quantitative data. Qualitative data was gathered from 13 language instructors studying at TMA. It was found that the perspectives of the cadets towards multicultural learning setting were positive. However, the international cadets’ language proficiency developed more than the Turkish cadets. Analysis of the interviews with the language instructors provided important insights into the issue.
Key Words : cultural diversity, international student, multicultural learning, TMA.
Article Details
Authors retain copyright to their work, licensing it under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License and grant the journal exclusive right of first publication with the work simultaneously and it allows others to copy and redistribute the work for non-commercial purposes, with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in IOJET and provided that no changes were made on the article.
References
Badur, G. (2003). International students’ perspectives on their cross-cultural adjustment to
American higher education. PhD dissertation, Illinois State University.
Banks, J. A., Cookson, P., Gay, G., Hawley, W. D., Jordan Irvine, J., Nieto, S., Ward Schofield, J., & Stephan, W. G. (2001). Diversity within unity: Essential principles for teaching and learning in a multicultural society. Seattle, WA: Center for Multicultural Education, School of Education, University of Washington.
Biddle, S. (2002). Internationalization: Rhetoric or Reality? New York: American Council of
Learned Societies.
Chaskes, J. (1996). The first-year student as immigrant. Journal of the Freshman Year
Experience and Students in Transition, 8, 79–91.
Chesler, M. (2004). Confronting the myths and dealing with realities of diversity and
multiculturalism on campus. Group Insights, 12(3), 5-12.
Deardorff, D.K. (2006). The identification and assessment of intercultural comp etence as a
student outcome of internationalization at institutions of higher education in the United States. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241-266.
Fullinwider, R. K. (1993). Multiculturalism: Themes and variations. Perspective,5(2), 3- 23.
Giroux, H. (1998, May). Educational leadership and the crisis of democratic government. Educational Researcher, 21(4), 4-11.
Giroux, H. (1992). Border crossings: Cultural workers and politics of education. New York
and London: Routledge.
González-Castro JL, Ubillos S and Ibáñez J. (2009). Predictive factors of ethnic prejudice
toward immigrants in a representative subsample of Spanish young people. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39, 1690–1717.
Humphreys, D. (2000). Diversity and the college curriculum: how colleges and students prepare for a changing world. In Diversity Web [On-line]. Available: http: //www.inform/umd.edu/Diversity...resguide/CT/curriculum briefing.html.
Krajewski,S. (2011). Developing intercultural competence in multilingual and multicultural
student groups. Journal of Research in International Education, 10(2), 137-153.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The Dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American
children (2nd ed.). San Francisco: JosseyBass.
Le Roux, J. (2002). Effective educators are culturally competent communicators.
Intercultural Education, 13(1). 37-48.
Longman (1991). Dictionary of Contemporary English. 961.
Manning, M., & Baruth, L. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th
Ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education Inc.
Mori, S. C. (2000). Addressing the mental health concerns of international students. Journal
of Counseling and Development, 78, 137–144.
Njumbwa, S. (2001). The Australians, British, and Canadians are coming: The threat to the
United States leadership position in the international student market. International Educator.
Obst, D., & Forster, J. (2005). Perceptions of European higher education country report: USA.
In Academic Cooperation Association Secretariat (Ed.), Perceptions of European higher education in third countries. Retrieved from http://www.acasecretariat.be/02projects/Perceptions.htm
Rogers, E. M. (2008). The fourteenth paw: Growing up on an Iowa farm in the 1930s.
Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication Center.
Richards, J. J. (1993). Classroom tapestry—A practitioner's perspective on multicultural education. New York: Routledge.
Richards, H., Brown, A., & Forde, T. (2007). Addressing diversity in schools: Culturally
responsive pedagogy. Teaching Special Education, 39 (3), 64- 68
Sandhu, D. S., & Asrabadi, B. R. (1998). An acculturative stress scale for international
students: A practical approach to stress measurement. In C. P. Zalaquett & R. J. Wood (Eds.), Evaluating stress: A book of resources (Vol. 2, pp, 1–33). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Senyshyn, R. M., Warford, M. K., & Zhan, J. (2000). Issues of adjustment to higher
education: International students’ perspectives [Electronic version]. International Education, 30(1), 17-35.
Sercu, L. (2002). Autonomous learning and the acquisition of intercultural communicative
competence: Some implications for course development. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 15 (1): 61-74.
Sleeter, C. E., & Grant, C. A. (1999). Making choices for multicultural education: Five approaches to race, class, and gender. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Tomich, P., McWhirter, J. J., & King, W. E. (2000). International student adaptation: Critical
variables. International Education, 29, 37-46.
Trebing, D. (2004). Book Review, multiculturalism in contemporary societies: Perspective on
difference and transdifference. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 36(1). 122-123.
UNESCO (2007). Cultural pluralism and multiculturalism: Managing unity in diversity.
MOST Newsletter 3 (June 1995). Retrieved January 9, 2007 from http://www.unesco.org/most/newlet3e.htm
Yakışır, A.N. (2009). Multiculturalism as a modern Concept.M.A Thesis. Thesis Number: 09203018
Yamazaki, M. (2002). Diversity of acculturation to multiethnic society and human
relationship in Hawaii: A case study of Buddhism-influenced “Project Dana.” The Japanese Journal of Human Relations, 9(1), 71-79.
Zuniga, X. (1995). Speaking- the unspeakable: student learning outcomes in intergroup dialogues on a college campus. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education in Orlando, Florida.