Exploring the impact of the fulbright foreign language teaching assistant program on grantees’ educational and cultural beliefs and practices

Abstract

Educational exchanges like the Fulbright scholarship programs are viewed positively at a number of levels, from promoting personal growth to helping build cooperative relations between nations. This study reported in this chapter examined the experiences of eight Turkish Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) grantees in the years after their exchange program, to investigate the reported impacts that the Fulbright experience had on the grantees’ subsequent understandings of education, democracy and intercultural issues. The study utilized a survey instrument, follow up interviews and e-mail correspondence, and drew on Mezirow’s transformative learning theory to explore the participants’ changing perspectives. It was found that various transformations did occur in the grantees’ perspectives as a result of their international experience. Suggestions are offered for future research.