scholarly journals Cross-Cultural Social Skills of Turkish Students in Japan: Implications for Overcoming Academic and Social Difficulties During Cross-Cultural Transition

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-39
Author(s):  
Ayse Ilgin Sozen

he present study examines the social skills of Turkish students during their cross-cultural transition to the academic and social cultures of Japan. One of the purposes of this study is to partially fill the gap in the literature by exploring and identifying Turkish students’ social skills during their stay in Japan. Another purpose of the study is to differentiate social skills, particularly used in educational settings – such as the classroom environment – from those exhibited in other contexts. This study also aims to provide universities with potential solutions to design better support and provide aid to Turkish students through their transition stages. A semi-structured interview was selected as the primary data collection tool for the present research. A total of 21 students from Turkey who were in higher education or had already obtained a degree from a university in Japan volunteered to participate in this study. Each interview transcript was individually examined via qualitative analysis, aiming to identify and categorize cross-cultural social skills. The analysis produced separate hierarchical levels of categories related to both the academic and social cultures of Japan. The findings revealed that Turkish students tend to use different types of social skills in different settings which are labelled “social skills specific to academic culture in Japan” and “culture-specific social skills.” Additionally, the cross-cultural social skills of Turkish students are classified in respect of their use (i.e., acquired skills, avoided skills, and maintained skills), based on a previous study.

Author(s):  
Vida Gudzinskienė ◽  
Rita Raudeliūnaitė

The article analyses the qualification improvement of social workers, who work in children‘s care homes, in the context of their restructuring. A qualitative-empirical study has been conducted by using the method of a semi-structured interview. The study data were processed by using the method of content analysis. The results of the empirical study are based on the experience of 14 social workers, who work in care institutions, which participate in the restructuring, which consists of the changeover from institutional care to the services that are provided to children, who have become destitute of parental care, in a family and community. Internal (an aspiration for a continuous qualification improvement and the desire to share professional experience) and external (changes related to the restructuring, ever higher requirements for social workers, the encouragement and support of the administration of institutions to improve their qualification) stimuli to improve qualification have been highlighted. The most relevant topics of qualification improvement for social workers are the development of personal and social skills in children, the preparation of them for an independent life, the solution of behavioural and psychological problems in children and the preparedness of social workers themselves for the restructuring and the need for supervisions. The topics, which  meet their needs, are: the development of social skills, the communication with children and the preparation of them for a family. According to the informants, there is a lack of trainings oriented towards the solution of practical problems which arise while organizing the restructuring. The following problems related to the improvement of qualification were highlighted: the mismatch between the teaching topics and the content, during the trainings for social worker, who work in children‘s care homes, the problems of other social groups, but not of children are analysed. During trainings, there is a lack of the detailed examination of the solution of practical problems. The social workers lack trainings related to the preparation for the restructuring.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 868-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izabela Grabowska

This article examines how the social skills of migrants are moulded in workplaces and employment-related situations. It surveys literature on social skills, workplaces, social remittances and relational learning. It devotes attention to destination workplaces as spaces where people who left their comfort zones experience disjuncture between origin and destination. This can bring insights, noticing differences and making comparisons. On return to their workplaces in their origin countries, migrants are able to reflect upon and eventually remit these experiences, packaged as social remittances. Three categories of social skill were distilled from biographical interviews with returnees to Poland: (1) the capability for cross-cultural communication; (2) the capability for dealing with emotional labour; (3) the capability for taking initiative and acting independently. The study analysed situations of disjuncture as a result of migration which led to learning, non-learning and alienation. By bringing migration to the forefront, we consider social skills as social remittances.


Author(s):  
Sing Yee Ong ◽  
Samsilah Roslan ◽  
Nor Aniza Ahmad ◽  
Ahmad Fauzi Mohd Ayub ◽  
Chen Lee Ping ◽  
...  

Background: This study evaluates the effectiveness of parent-assisted children’s friendship training intervention for enhancing friendship quality and social skills among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate the effective outcomes of social skills and friendship quality in the pre-and post-parent-assisted CFT intervention phases; Methods: to conduct a 12-week field session, 30 children with their parents were selected. The Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales and the Quality of Play Questionnaire-Parent were used to assess the effectiveness of the parent-assisted children’s friendship training during pre-and post-intervention. A semi-structured interview with parents was conducted at the end of the session; Results: findings revealed that intervention improved the social skills of these children. Additionally, the friendship quality of children with ASD improved before and after the intervention, however, engagement remained unchanged. Parents also showed some sort of improvement after the session as they reported a heightened sense of fear and resistance, awareness, learning and adjustment, change is not easy, and identifying support; Conclusions: there was clear evidence that children with ASD benefitted from parent-assisted CFTs in terms of social skills and friendship quality. However, larger and controlled studies are required to draw firm conclusions about this kind of intervention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Mehmet ORAN ◽  
Mehmet Akif KARALI

The research was prepared in order to reveal the opinions of social studies teacher candidates on the use of information technologies and materials in social studies lessons. The study group of the research consists of teacher candidates studying in the department of social studies teaching at Cukurova University in Turkey. The research was prepared in accordance with phenomenology, one of the qualitative research designs. A structured interview form, which was previously created by taking expert opinion, was used to collect data. There are 5 questions that complement each other in the interview form. The data obtained from the interview form were subjected to content analysis. The reliability of the study was calculated as 95.5% according to the reliability formula of Miles and Huberman (1994). It was concluded that the prospective teachers who participated in the research supported the use of information technologies in the social studies course. It was seen that the tools in the classroom environment as technology and material were expressed by the majority of the participants.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarekegn Tariku Ebissa

Abstract Injera is the most preferableand popular type of feeding items in Ethiopia. Injera can be prepared from various flours of cereal grains but it mostly produced using grinded flour of cereal grain called Teff (Eragrostistef (Zucc) Trotter). This study is conducted to assess the socioeconomic opportunities of women selling Injera on the street in Nekemtetown, Oromia, Ethiopia. The main aim of the study was indentifying and analyzing the social and economic opportunities of women engaged on selling Injera on the street. Primary data was collected from 50 women currently selling Injera on street at Nekemte town through structured interview questionnaire. The interview was conducted within one month at five Injera marketing locations in the town. Simple descriptive statistic was used to analyze the collected data. The findings of the study reveal the existence of both social and economic opportunities. The significant opportunities are the existence of indigenous knowledge and skill, good future employment option, availability of high domestic & abroad market demand, existence of high interest to work in cooperatives, existence of necessary inputs in the location, availability of cheap facilities and utilities to support the engagement and existence of eager interest to continue in supplying and trading Injera. As a result, for wise utilization of the opportunities, it is recommended to empower women engaged on selling Injera by enterprising and modernizing the production, supply and trading of Injera in Nekemte town.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 393-398
Author(s):  
Andreas Ahrens ◽  
Olaf Bassus ◽  
Jeļena Zaščerinska

AbstractUniversity as a social enterprise has become the dominant response to the challenge of bringing up an engineer as a first-rate technical expert who acts as a social agent, rather than just a technician, with a “broad understanding of the social and philosophical context in which he will work” [3]. Aim of the research is to analyze student engineers' Enterprise 3.0 application in engineering curriculum. The meaning of the key concepts of university as a social enterprise, engineering curriculum and Enterprise 3.0 is studied. Explorative research has been used. The empirical study was conducted at Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia, in 2011. Descriptive statistics was implemented for primary data analysis. The findings of the research allow drawing the conclusions on the favourable context of Enterprise 3.0 application in engineering curriculum as the student engineers' knowledge and attitude towards Enterprise 3.0 application are positive. Direction of further research are proposed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Niznik

This study focuses on adolescents who immigrated to Israel between 2000 and 2002. The aim of the survey on which the article is based was to investigate the determinants of cross-cultural transition, focusing on family problems, identity crises, educational achievements, and language behavior. Since the beginning of the mass immigration from the former Soviet Union, the Israeli educational system has not managed to reorient itself to accommodate the newcomers. Among the main reasons are differences in the Russian and Israeli educational systems and the changing character of the immigration itself. Despite existing problems, the younger generation of these recent immigrants wants to be integrated into Israeli society. It is the task of the formal education system to provide them with support and guide them on a path toward successful adjustment.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110088
Author(s):  
María Auxiliadora Robles-Bello ◽  
David Sánchez-Teruel ◽  
Nieves Valalencia-Naranjo ◽  
Francisca Barba Colmenero

Background/Objective: Researchers have traditionally reported that individuals with Down syndrome possess a strength in their social development, yet the opposite occurs with Asperger’s syndrome. Based on this premise, we sought to assess effectiveness of the social skills training program. Method: Thirty adolescents aged 11 to 14 years with Down syndrome and Asperger’s syndrome participated in the study. Results: Significant differences between both groups were detected in the posttreatment measures and a connection was found between adolescents’ learning potential and the benefits gained. Conclusions: The training program is effective at improving the social skills under evaluation in adolescents with Down syndrome; however, this benefit is greater among adolescents with Asperger’s syndrome.


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