Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Turkish International Students in Hungary, Germany, and The United States

Abstract

Cross-cultural adaptation is a process that can varies according to the host culture in which international students study. With that in mind, this dissertation examined and compared the adaptation experiences of Turkish international students (TIS) who have the same cultural background but study in three different cultures. A total of three studies were conducted for this purpose. The first study using the consensual qualitative research method (Hill, 2015) focused on the adaptation process of TIS at different German universities. As the first research on how TIS sojourning in Germany for educational purposes experience crosscultural adaptation, this study focuses on their adaptation experience in Germany, taking into account the cultural and educational backgrounds of TIS. The study's findings showed the impact of disparaging stereotypes and discrimination aimed at a large community of immigrants from the same country. Also highlighted were the sharply different experiences of TIS in the safe, supportive, enabling, institutional, on-campus context on the one hand, and the more challenging, discriminative, larger off-campus, host-society context on the other.The second study using the case study approach focused on the adaptation experiences of TIS, in two different cultures: Hungary and the United States. This is the first study to investigate both the cross-cultural adaptation of TIS in Hungary and the first comparative study on TIS' adaptation experiences in different countries. The findings of this study showed that, when compared to their co-nationals studying in an English-speaking country, TIS studying in Hungary -a country which offers English medium instruction programs -faced some serious difficulties such as in-school separation from local students However, due to a shared historical background between Hungarians and Turks, TIS in Hungary have experienced many cultural similarities in their relations and daily lives unlike TIS in the United States. The perceived low cultural distance between Hungary and Turkey positively affected their cross-cultural adaptation process. Whereas, TIS in the United States experienced stress that hindered adaptation due to certain political developments in the United States and their political relations with Turkey.The third study, in which data was collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis focused on the adjustment challenges and help-seeking of TIS studying at various universities in the United States during their crosscultural adaptation process. The results suggested that TIS experienced several adjustment challenges that affected their general well-being and satisfaction and made their adjustment process harder. According to the results, TIS initially sought help from family members, advisors, or friends to overcome their adjustment challenges. Dissatisfaction among TIS due TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .