The Relationship among Language Background Intercultural Sensitivity Openness to Experience and Well-being of Student Sojourners in Turkey

The increase in the contexts of intercultural interaction boosted the research on different aspects of intercultural communication practices. In today’s globalizing world internationalization of universities has become a significant topic under scrutiny. Students from different universities apply for the abroad universities to get full or partial education (i.e., Erasmus, Mevlana, Au-pair, graduate/undergraduate programs). Although educational internationalization in higher education level in some European countries and the United States has been a hot topic for a long time and research on relevant issues are abundant, in Turkish context international education and the adjustment of sojourners' is a recent issue and it can be considered as an understudied research topic. In recent years, with opportunities of educational mobility offered to university students, the number of international students in Turkish universities has been considerably increasing (Kondakçı, 2011). People who live in a foreign country may face problems of adjustment. International students are not exempted from this process. Nevertheless, given their culturally diverse backgrounds, international students may experience adjustment strains within their host environment that are unique to them, such as cultural differences, language constraints, and social behaviors. The adaptation process and well- being of international students relies on their experiences in the host culture. As stated by the researchers the presence of international students alone does not mean that the institution or the students are reaping the benefits of internationalisation. It is inevitable that the readiness for intercultural communication of local students and university faculty is also important in this interaction. Considering this interactional change, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship among language background, intercultural sensitivity, openness to experience and well-being of student sojourners in Turkey. MethodWith this purpose, one hundred and fifty international students (ages range is between 18-30) continuing their education in various programs in Erciyes University responded a questionnaire set (items for demography, language background, intercultural sensitivity - Intercultural Sensitivity Survey, openness to experience- Big Five Inventory (John Donahue and Kentle,1991) and well-being- General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972) during 2014-2015 academic year. The participants have completed a preparatory program to learn Turkish having nine hundred and sixty hours of Turkish in total and graduated with upper intermediate proficiency level in Turkish. Thus the survey language in this study is determined to be Turkish. The participants are contacted through social media, institutional e-mails and international organizations of the university. The data collection takes thirty minutes in average and it is administered in face to face meetings or through online data collection tools.Expected OutcomesThe data analysis will be conducted by using SPSS 15. The results of the research will be discussed under the light of current literature on sojourners’ experiences in abroad education, language and intercultural communication studies. Research results will be employed to have recommendation to higher education institutions in order to increase the quality of student sojourners’ experiences in Turkey.ReferencesGoldberg, D. P. (1972). Detecting psychiatric illness by questionnaire Oxford University Press, Oxford John, O. P., Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The Big Five Inventory--Versions 4a and 54. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research. Kondakçı, Y. (2011). Student mobility reviewed: attraction and satisfaction of international students in Turkey. Higher Education, 62, 573-592.