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

Abstract

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.