Indonesian Students' Psychological Well-Being in Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to determine and analyze Indonesian students' psychological well-being in Turkey. In addition, it is intended to explore students' experiences when studying in Turkey and reveal what and how vigorous efforts were made to adapt to a new country. The research approach used was phenomenology, which pays more attention to the individual's subjective experience. The researchers then interviewed students who had just lived in Turkey for one year and students who had been in Turkey for more than one year. Hopefully, it could be explored more in aspects of the psychological well-being of students studying in Turkey. The study results highlighted that several elements affected students' psychological well-being during the adaptation period in Turkey, including different food, a quite complicated language to learn, different weather, association with international students, and not easy adaptation on campus. Furthermore, self-defense efforts to stay strong and motivated by new students in Turkey comprised of holding motivational halaqah, visits (monitoring) to new students' residences, maximizing WhatsApp groups, and bringing in motivators from outside.

From Language Learning Media to Representing Turkish Culture: Cultural Content in Turkish Language Textbooks

“…Türkiye has various unique cultures and is inherent in the cultural identity of its people (Paksoy & Çelik, 2019;Rahmatullah et al, 2022). Apart from that, Turkish culture also has a long history and is often associated with the history of Islamic progress (Muvid, 2022).…”

“…In his study, Yilmaz (2018) found that the Turkish language used in daily conversation differs from the academic language used in lectures. In addition, some students also experience difficulties in learning Turkish due to differences in cultural backgrounds which also affect the structure and logic of the Turkish language (Kesten et al, 2010;Özoğlu et al, 2015;Rahmatullah et al, 2022).…”

“…The findings of this study are expected to provide significance in designing cultural content in foreign language textbooks. This is based on several studies that have found that among the causes of difficulties in learning a foreign language is the difficulty of understanding the structure and logic of language, and among the reasons is the lack of cultural content used in language learning (Drobot, 2021;Kesten et al, 2010;Kuo & Lai, 2006;Özoğlu et al, 2015;Rahmatullah et al, 2022).…”