Cross-cultural experience in preservice teacher education

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Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 1777–1790

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Cross-cultural experience in preservice teacher education

Mehmet Sahin

World Languages and Cultures, Iowa State University, 3102 Pearson Hall, Ames, IA 50011, USA

Received 25 December 2006; received in revised form 22 January 2008; accepted 12 February 2008

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of international student teaching experience on the professional and personal

development of preservice teachers. Within the framework of their internship program, 26 graduate students in a private

university in Turkey had a two-month internship in a mid western state in the United States, the main component of which

was a six-week student teaching experience in high schools. Student teachers worked with mentors in pairs or triads in six

high schools in different subject areas. They got involved in teaching practices, technology seminars, and diverse cultural

activities during their internship. The student teachers and mentor teachers were surveyed through e-mail and three student

teachers were interviewed to evaluate the outcomes of the program. The findings of the current research suggest that the

international student teaching experience and the overall internship program with its cultural components contributed in a

positive way to student teachers’ professional and personal development and helped student teachers increase their cultural

awareness. The findings also suggest that the presence of international students in US schools and society in general helped

American students and people have a better idea of other countries and cultures.

r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Teacher education; Student teaching; International experience; Cultural awareness; Professional development

1. Introduction

Cross-cultural experiences are considered as avaluable contribution to the curricula in many fieldsof study (Toncar & Cudmore, 2000). Students areencouraged to participate in study abroad programsto enhance their perspectives in their subject matter.International experience also has a very importantplace in teacher education programs (see Willard-Holt, 2001). In her 1987 article Wilson states

If we are concerned about a future for the world,global education must be a priority in schools. Ifwe are serious about global education happening

ee front matter r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

te.2008.02.006

ess: [email protected]

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in schools, cross-cultural experiential learningshould be a component of every teacher educa-tion program. (p. 519)

For example, Iowa State University encouragesteacher candidates to have international teachingexperience in eight different countries so thatstudents could ‘‘engage with diverse student popu-lations, become aware of global issues and delveinto a culture different from [their] own’’.1 Suchcross-cultural experiences can have multiple benefitsboth professionally and personally.

http://www.teacher.hs.iastate.edu/internationalstudentteaching.

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http://www.teacher.hs.iastate.edu/internationalstudentteaching.php

http://www.teacher.hs.iastate.edu/internationalstudentteaching.php

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A private university in Turkey provides itsstudents2 with a unique opportunity. Within theframework of their master’s program in teachereducation, preservice teachers are required to haveintensive student teaching experience before theygraduate, which puts them in an advantageousposition vis-a-vis their counterparts in Turkey.Moreover, in the third semester of their 2-yearstudies, preservice teachers have a 2-month intern-ship in the US where they work in a classroom withexperienced mentor teachers in pairs or triads for 6weeks, explore American culture, and attend semi-nars on their subject areas and technology for anenhanced professional development. The internshipgives the Turkish student teachers an opportunity tosee in action many of the innovative and interestingapproaches to teaching and learning that they havestudied in their graduate classes. After a 2-weekorientation, student teachers spend 6 weeks in UShigh schools, where they observe the mentorteacher and other teachers as they prepare andteach lessons. The student teachers gradually takemore and more responsibility in the classroom,and, eventually teach lessons themselves underthe supervision of and with the support of theirmentor teacher.

Preservice teachers in this program had alreadyhad internships in different schools in Turkey andconferences with their mentor teachers, otherfaculty and staff in their respective school duringthe first year of their master’s program. Upon returnto their home country they are expected to initiateand implement the innovative teaching strategiesthat they have observed, acquired, used, and/ordeveloped during their internship in the UnitedStates along with their experience in Turkishschools. In line with this consideration, the intern-ship program requires the preservice teachers tocomplete a curriculum development project and acultural project. With the former they are expectedto take another important step toward profession-alism in teaching whereas with the latter to developa better understanding of American culture. Theyare encouraged to integrate technology in theirprojects and offered a series of technology seminarsby the staff of the collaborating university in theUS. Topics of the technology seminars are videorecording/editing, creating/editing still images,creating and printing posters, etc. Fig. 1 gives an

2Students of this private university will be referred to as

preservice teachers or student teachers.

overview and timeline of the whole internshipprocess during student teachers’ two-year gra-duate studies. During these two years, studentteachers completed their coursework along withtheir internships.

2. Literature review

Student teachers are likely to benefit frominternational student teaching experience to a greatextent. Preservice teachers in the private universityin Turkey have had the rare chance of blending theirstudent teaching practices they had in four differentleading Turkish high schools, with their interna-tional experience in a US high school. As Kissock(1996) emphasizes:

In overseas placements, students work in settingswhere approaches to components of the instruc-tional process [y] are different from what theyhave known. As a result, students and theirteachers become involved in significant discus-sions that directly affect the reasoning andconclusions students reach about what is con-sidered appropriate in education. (p. 134)

The main objective of the overseas internshipexperience in the teacher education program of theTurkish university was to promote professional,cultural, and personal development. Research onsimilar programs suggests that international experi-ence can contribute to student teachers’ develop-ment in all these three areas. In their study onoverseas student teaching, Cushner and Mahon(2002) conclude that overseas experience facilitates‘‘increased cultural awareness and improved self-efficacy, as well as professional development interms of global-mindedness’’ for student teachers(p. 44). They also emphasize the importance ofpreservice teachers’ having teaching internshipexperience outside the context they are familiarwith in terms of developing intercultural skills. Inthe case of Turkish student teachers’ experience, thehigh school context in the United States was aunique opportunity for them to develop such skills.Willard-Holt (2001) notes that ‘‘international stu-dent teaching experiences may potentially changebeginning teachers’ thinking about themselves,curriculum design, and teaching strategies; enhanceskills and abilities of effective teachers; forceexamination of personal beliefs, habits and values;and encourage commitment to open-mindedness’’(p. 506). In her study, Willard-Holt reported

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Year 1 Year 2

Semester-long internships in high schools in Turkey (one day per week)

Two-week-long intensive internships in high schools in Turkey

Semester-long internships in a different high school in Turkey

Eight-week-long internship in US

Continuing coursework

Semester-long internship in a third high school in Turkey (one day per week)

School visits & Orientation (one week)

Teaching Internship (6 weeks)

Finalizing projects, Turkish Students’ Day, visit to Washington D.C.

Three-day visit to a big city in the Midwest

Various cultural activities

Technology seminars (once a week)

Subject group seminars (once a week)

Curriculum Project

Homestay

Cultural Project

Fig. 1. Timeline of Turkish student teachers’ internship experience during their 2-year graduate study.

M. Sahin / Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 1777–1790 1779

positive impacts of a short-term international expe-rience for preservice teachers. She focused on thecategories developed by Wilson (1993) to evaluatethe benefits of this cross-cultural experience:

substantive knowledge of other cultures, worldissues and global dynamics; open-minded andempathetic perceptual understanding of people ofother cultures without stereotypes; personal

growth in areas such as self-confidence andindependence; and the propensity to make inter-

personal connections with people of other cultures,both in the host country and after returning home.

Wilson (1987) in her earlier article about cross-cultural experiences in teacher education lists foursimilar benefits:

1.
Teaching itself is a cross-cultural encounter. 2. Cross-cultural experience aids self-development. 3. Cross-culturally effective persons have character-
istics desirable for effective teachers.
4. Cross-cultural experience leads to global per-
spectives necessary for global education tohappen in schools (p. 521).

In their report on the Overseas Student Teach-ing Project at Indiana University—Bloomington,Mahan and Stachowski (1994) list the learningsreported by overseas student teachers in thefollowing categories: classroom teaching strategies,self-discoveries, understanding/relating to people,curriculum content/selection/usage, facts not relatedto teaching, world human life/global issues, estheticsand miscellaneous. They conclude that

[t]he outcomes of international teaching, living,and study experiences for preservice educatorstend to be encouraging. Such experiences havethe potential to arm beginning US educatorswith new teaching ideas, skills, strategies, knowl-edge, and world perceptions that conventionalstudent teaching programs are less likely toprovide. (p. 22)

In another study, Jarchow et al. (1996) investi-gated how international student teaching experi-ences influenced student teachers’ awareness ofother cultures by focusing on the experiences offour US student teachers through examinationof their personal journals. They also reported


that students increased their awareness of othercultures and diminished ethnocentrism, and thatthey valued differences more by student teachingoverseas.

The international student teaching experiencecould strengthen student teachers’ beliefs abouttheir own systems instead of importing just whatthey observe and learn during their overseasexperience, which would be a positive and adesirable outcome when resulting from a carefuland in-depth synthesis. One of the few studies thatinvestigated foreign preservice teachers’ experiencesin the USA rather than US students’ overseas byHugh (1995) focuses on the New Zealanderstudents’ student teaching experience in the UnitedStates. Hugh points out the fact that although theexperience was ‘‘worthwhile’’ for the students ingeneral, ‘‘all the students felt their original percep-tion of American Education was generally accuratethough they conceded that individual schools werenot always as they expected’’ (p. 14). He alsounderlines the fact that ‘‘the international experi-ence strengthened the students’ preference for theirown system’’ against the ‘‘whole language approachto teaching and learning’’ in the United States. Yet,like in all other studies cited above, The Waika-to–USA exchange program is reported to haveincreased Waikato students’ understanding andempathy for other cultures.

All studies mentioned above suggest positiveeffects of overseas student teaching experience forUS students. In this study, the impact of interna-tional student teaching experience in the USA onTurkish student teachers will be investigated with afocus on the following categories: professionaldevelopment, personal development, and culturalknowledge/awareness. The contribution of Turkishstudent teachers to the US context will also beexplored. The study aims at answering the followingresearch questions:

1.
What is the impact of an international studentteaching experience on the Turkish preserviceteachers’ personal and professional developmentand their cultural awareness?
2.
How do the US mentor teachers think thestudent teaching experience contributed tothe professional and personal development ofthe Turkish student teachers as well as to theircultural knowledge/awareness?
3.
What is the impact of such an internationalproject on the US context?
3. Method

The current study is an exploratory researchstudy. In order to answer the research questions,I designed a set of open-ended survey and inter-view questions. I analyzed the data qualitatively.This section gives detailed information aboutthe participants, instruments, procedure, andanalysis.

3.1. Participants

Twenty-six student teachers and 13 mentorteachers were involved in the overall internshipproject. The internship schools and the mentorteachers were all chosen by the collaborativeuniversity in US and this university had workedwith those schools and mentors within the frame-work of its students’ student teaching practices. Notall of the mentor teachers and student teachersagreed to participate in the study. Unwillingness toparticipate in the study might be explained by theparticipants’ busy schedules in their respectivepositions or their possible weariness after a greatdeal of paperwork during the project.

3.1.1. Student teachers

Eleven student teachers (eight females, threemales) out of 26 participants consented to take partin the study. The ages of those 11 students variedfrom 22 to 27, which also reflected the overallage range of all student teachers who were involvedin the program. The student teachers were in fourdifferent subject groups: English (7), History (7),Biology (8), and Turkish Language and Litera-ture (4). Although they had some of their metho-dology and foundation courses together in thesame classroom in their masters program, theyspecialized in those four different subjects bytaking subject-specific courses and were assignedto different mentor teachers according to theirspecialization areas. One student in the TurkishLanguage and Literature group, two students inBiology group, and four students in the Englishgroup answered the survey questions whereasnone of the students in the history group respon-ded to the survey. Among the student teachersinterviewed, two of them were male. Intervieweeswere from the English, History, and TurkishLanguage and Literature groups. None of thestudent teachers had been to the USA before theinternship.

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Table 1

Student teacher (ST)–mentor teacher (MT) pairings

ST1—surveyed (English)

ST10—interviewed (English)

MT1—surveyed

(English)

ST2—surveyed (Turkish Lang. & Lit.)MT2—surveyed

(English)

ST11—interviewed (History)MT7—surveyed

(History)

ST4—surveyed (Biology)

ST8 — surveyed (Biology)

MT6—surveyed

(Biology)

ST3—surveyed (Biology) No match




ST9—interviewed (Turkish Lang. & Lit.)

No match MT3—surveyed

(English)

MT4—surveyed

(History)

MT5—surveyed

(Biology)


3.1.2. Mentor teachers

Seven mentors out of 13 consented to take part inthe study. Three of the mentor teachers were male.All mentor teachers except one had worked in thesame project in the previous two years3 withdifferent student teachers from Turkey; therefore,they were familiar with the overall organization ofthe program and Turkish culture and studentteachers’ background to a certain extent. Beforethe internship project started student teachers gotinto contact with their respective mentor teacher forpreliminary work if needed before they arrived inthe USA.

The student teachers and mentor teachers whodid not consent to participate in the study did notgive any reason for their decision. No reply to mye-mail(s) meant that the recipient did not want to bea part of this study. I had communicated with allstudent and mentor teachers using the same e-mailaddresses before conducting this study. Thus, I didnot make any further attempts to include moreparticipants in the study after sending two e-mailsconcerning the study and receiving no reply.

The pairings between the student teachers and thementor teachers are presented in Table 1. Studentteachers in respective rows worked with the mentorteacher that is displayed on the same row. Therewas no match among the other subjects thatparticipated in the study (ST 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 andMT 3, 4, 5).

3.2. Instruments

I collected the data through two surveys and aninterview and designed all questions in thoseinstruments which were in open-ended format. Thequestions in the surveys for the student teachersand mentor teachers were different but most ofthem were cross-referenced (see Appendix A andTable 2). The questions were designed to elicitanswers to the study’s research questions. It shouldbe noted here that none of the previous researchstudies on the same topic provided survey orinterview questions in their reports. Table 2 presentsinformation on which aspect of the project isaimed by each question in student teacher andmentor teacher surveys. In parenthesis next to eachquestion is indicated the research question aimed atanswering.

3This was a three-year project and this study focused on the

last year’s participants.

Both in the student teachers’ answers and mentorteachers’ answers to the survey questions, ‘‘culturalexchange’’ and ‘‘personal development’’ aspects ofthe internship experience were conveyed as impor-tant benefits of the internship beside the profes-sional development. Mentors teachers mentionedthat they also learned a lot from the studentteachers. Along with this finding, a set of interviewquestions was devised to investigate student tea-chers’ contribution to the US context from theirown perspective, which is reflected in the thirdresearch question—exploring the effect of an inter-national project on the US context—and to collectadditional data for the first research question whichinvestigated the effect of an international studentteaching experience on the Turkish preserviceteachers’ personal and professional developmentand their cultural awareness. With this considera-tion in mind, three student teachers were inter-viewed, two via telephone and one through asynchronous online communication tool upon hispreference. Those three students were selectedamong the ones who had not responded the surveyquestions so that different perspectives could beintegrated into the study. Two of the intervieweespreferred to have the interview/communication inTurkish. I offered having the interview in Turkish asan option to the participants since I observed thatmost of the students were more comfortableexpressing themselves in their native language.

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Table 2

Instruments and information required for each research question

Student teacher survey Mentor teacher survey Student teacher interview

Contribution to the professional

development (RQ1)

Contribution of the student teacher to the

classroom/school (RQ3)

Contribution to the US context (RQ3)

Using teaching strategies learned in

Turkey in the US context (RQ1)

Development of student

teacher–students–mentor–staff

relationships (RQ2)

Means of interaction with the US

culture (RQ1)

Using teaching strategies learned in the

US in the Turkish context (RQ1)

Different teaching strategies used by the

student teachers (RQ2)

Perceptions of the USA before and after the

internship (RQ1)

Transfer of the technology experience to

the Turkish context (RQ1)

Professional and personal development of

the student teacher (RQ2)

Contribution of this experience for teaching

career (RQ1)

Knowledge of other cultures (RQ1) Biggest challenge (further notes) Major differences between internships in

Turkey and the USA (RQ1)

Improving personal competencies (RQ1) Suggestions for a change (further notes) Contribution of the internship to the student

other than professionally (RQ1)

4I have a B.A. degree in Translation and Interpretation in

English–French–Turkish. Another native speaker of Turkish

verified the translations.

M. Sahin / Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 1777–17901782

The interviews lasted about 15min whereas theonline written communication lasted about an hour.None of the mentor teachers were interviewedbecause satisfactory information was gatheredthrough surveys. There were also time constraintsand technical limitations due to busy schedule of thementor teachers.

Finally, it is important to note that I was part ofthe same internship program two years earlier andafter finishing my M.A., I started my doctoralstudies in the collaborating university and workedin this project as a graduate assistant coordinatingactivities and supervising student teachers. There-fore, I will use my personal experience and insightsas well to enrich the discussion on findings of thisstudy.

3.3. Procedure

As the principal investigator of this researchstudy, I completed online Institutional ReviewBoard training and obtained informed consentsfrom all participants via e-mail. I sent the partici-pants survey questions through e-mail in April 2004,5 months after they completed their internship inthe USA and went back to Turkey to finish theirgraduate program. Three of the student teachersanswered the survey questions immediately, duringtheir last semester in the teacher education master’sprogram in Turkey and five of them in June–September 2004, after they graduated. This delaymight be attributed to the busy schedule of theparticipants since they had been looking for jobsafter graduation. Student teachers were free to

answer the survey questions in their native language(Turkish) since, as noted above, some of them feltmore comfortable expressing their opinions in theirmother tongue. Half of the participants preferred toanswer the questions in Turkish and I personallytranslated their answers into English.4 Mentorteachers were surveyed via e-mail as well becausee-mail had been a main and practical meansof communication between me and the mentorteachers during the project.

In March 2005, I interviewed two studentteachers via phone and one student teacher pre-ferred to express his opinions via an onlinecommunication tool. They were free to have theinterview in Turkish. At the time of the interviews,student teachers had already started teaching indifferent secondary/high schools in Turkey afterthey graduated in June 2004. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Later, I sent the tran-scripts to the respective participants to prevent anymisunderstanding that might have occurred in theinterview. All interviewees were satisfied with thetranscriptions and did not want to modify anything.

3.4. Analysis

The credibility of the findings of the study wassupported by data from various sources such asstudent teacher surveys, mentor teacher surveys andstudent teacher interviews. Answers to the survey

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questions and interview transcripts were coded andanalyzed based on the scheme proposed by Auer-bach and Silverstein (2003). They suggest six stepsfor constructing a theoretical narrative from textwhich are organized into three phases: making thetext manageable, hearing what was said, anddeveloping theory’’ (pp. 42–43). In line with thisscheme, repeating ideas were highlighted by group-ing together related passages of relevant text andthemes were organized by grouping repeating ideasinto coherent categories. This scheme is also in linewith the general inductive approach (Thomas,2006). Following some of the purposes of thegeneral inductive analysis approach, I (1) condensedextensive and varied raw text data into a brief,summary format; (2) established clear links betweenthe research objectives and the summary findingsderived from the raw data and ensured that theselinks are both transparent (able to be demonstratedto others) and defensible (justifiable given theobjectives of the research) (Thomas, 2006, p. 238).

The raw data from surveys and interviews wereanalyzed and presented in a summarized format(see Appendix A). The themes and categories thatemerged from the raw data were used in answeringthe research questions.

4. Findings and discussion

Answers to the research questions were obtainedthrough surveys for mentor teachers and studentteachers, and an interview for student teachers.Ideas and themes emerged from the student teachersurvey, the mentor teacher survey, and from thestudent teacher interview are presented respectivelyin Tables A1–A3.

4.1. Student teachers’ cultural awareness and

personal and professional development

Student teachers’ answers to the survey questions1–6 (see Table A1 in Appendix A) and to the inter-view questions 2–6 (see Table A3 in Appendix A)were used to answer the first research question,which investigated the contribution of the overallinternship program to the professional and personaldevelopment of the student teachers and to theircultural knowledge and awareness. Data from bothsources suggest that this international studentteaching experience contributed to student teachers’professional development to a great extent. Allsubjects considered this experience as an important

step toward professionalism through teaching wholeunits independently, gaining self-confidence, obser-ving and applying use of technology in learning andteaching, and comparing Turkish and US educationsystems. The following enthusiastic quotation fromone student teacher reflects the multifaceted benefitsof this experience very well:

First of all it [internship] gave me chance to putmy theoretical knowledge on biology teachinginto practice. Teaching approximately 15 h aweek was a great opportunity for me to improvemy skills and competencies in teaching, the mostimportant of which was standing for an hour infront of a group of native speaker students—I got a great deal of self confidence (y) I wasgiven the opportunity to teach a whole unit(with my partner), which means planning andpreparing both theoretical and practical lessons,teaching five different classes and assessing class/homework (and sometimes tests), which allconstitute the work of a professional teacher.This also includes getting feedback from whatI had done and improving my lesson next time.I got insight to the American education systemwith all its components—teacher and studentprofiles, student–teacher relationships, curricula,school structure, facilities etc. This is the mostimportant one because it gave me chance to beable to compare Turkish education system withthe American one. This last one is reallyimportant, as it is what I will refer to in myendeavor to contribute to Turkish educationalsystem. This does not mean that I will try toimplement all I saw in the US, but I will take onlythe things that I think are good, and synthesizethem with ‘‘our’’ goods in order to reach the‘‘better’’.

Another student teacher gives a clearer explanationhow she is planning to ‘‘reach the ‘better’’’:

Since my subject area was language and litera-ture, I wanted to know how language andliterature courses are taught in high schools. Iobserved that students were not loaded withdetailed information but that teachers tried toincrease students’ awareness to use their lan-guage in the best way possible by practice. As aresult, this year [when I started working as ateacher after graduation] I integrated this strat-egy into my annual plans.


Along with these positive comments, in theirresponse to the fourth question in the survey, whichasked how their experience with technology use inclassrooms in the USA can enhance their teachingpractices in Turkey, the student teachers highlightedsome drawbacks such as lack of technologicalfacilities in some of the classrooms in Turkey, whichwould prevent them from applying the technologicalexpertise they gained during the internship. On theother hand, one of the student teachers indicated thatshe really did not have exposure to extensive use oftechnology during her internship. It is important topoint out here that not all mentor teachers usedtechnology often in their teaching, which might haveaffected student teachers’ impressions about technol-ogy use in the US context.

As expressed to a great extent by the studentteachers surveyed, interviewees also gained a lot ofself-confidence, had opportunities to observe differ-ent student profiles, and vision of education in theUSA. One student teacher was pleased to observethe widespread use of group-work activities inher/his internship classrooms; and another studentteacher appreciated student-centered activities andfacilitating role of the teacher a lot. Comparing thestudent teaching experiences in Turkey and in theUSA, student teachers emphasized the more auton-omous environment they benefited from in the UScontext. They had opportunities to personalize theirteaching and got more constructive and motivatingfeedback from their mentor teachers. Comparingthe educational systems in Turkey and in US, onestudent teacher stated that his views about theinferiority of Turkish educational system changedafter her/his internship in the USA. He believes thatthere is no huge gap between the two systems.Another student teacher was happy to see that therewas no memorizing in history classes in the USAunlike in Turkey. Student teachers also stated thatthe internship helped them get a better idea of theimportance of technology use in education. Lastly,one student teacher commented that Turkisheducational system could get better if educationalpolicies did not depend on names in power, and ifthere were more resources allocated to education.

In terms of personal development, all studentteachers expressed positive comments such asgaining more sense of responsibility and betterinterpersonal skills thanks to the internship experi-ence. In many instances, student teachers mentionedincreased self-confidence during and after the expe-rience. Interviewees maintained that the internship

experience helped them know the USA andthemselves better and develop better communica-tion skills.

Student teachers also underscored the benefits ofthis international experience towards acquiring aninsight into the American culture and life style. Bythis way, they had an opportunity to compare thecultures, life style, student and family profiles in theUSA and in Turkey. Student teachers had manyways to interact with the American culture such astrips, homestays, city life, mentor teachers, and anAmerican graduate assistant in the project, all ofwhich had valuable share in their professional andpersonal development as well. Homestays wereassigned to provide the student teachers with aninsight to American family life and culture.Although most of the students enjoyed this experi-ence to a great extent, one student teacher expressedhis disappointment about his homestay experiencebecause he could not find the level of hospitality hehad expected. On the other hand, another studentteacher was extremely satisfied with her homestayexperience, and she is still in contact with the hostfamily. Of course, all these interactions with theAmerican culture were likely to increase studentteachers’ cultural awareness. On the other hand,student teachers’ perceptions of the USA did notseem to have changed much after they had theirinternship in the USA since they were familiar withUS culture and lifestyle through media and Holly-wood movies. However, student teachers reportedthat their real-life experiences during the internshiphelped them to understand that there is a differenteducational system in the USA and that peoplerespect each other to a great extent. One studentteacher was uncomfortable because of the preju-dices of some American people about Turkey,although, she says, she had no prejudice about theUSA or American people.

Findings from student teacher surveys and inter-views suggest that in general this overseas studentteaching experience was beneficial in all fourcategories described above by Wilson (1993).

4.2. Student teachers’ development in mentor

teachers’ eyes

Mentor teachers’ answers to questions 2–4(see Table A2 in Appendix A) provided an answerto the second research question, which focused ontheir report of student teachers’ development bothprofessionally and personally. Mentor teachers were

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very enthusiastic about being part of this pro-gram and enjoyed working with student teachersfrom Turkey. Mentor teachers witnessed signi-ficant developments in student teachers both per-sonally and professionally. They reportedthat student teachers became more independent,more self-motivated, and more self-confident intheir teaching and friendlier in their relation-ships with students and faculty. One mentorteacher stated that the internship also increasedthe student teachers’ linguistic competence. Theseremarks are consistent with student teachers’opinions about their own personal and professionaldevelopments.

4.3. Student teachers’ contribution to the US context

The answer to the third research question wasobtained through mentor teachers’ answers tothe first survey question and student teachers’answers to the first interview question. All mentorteachers stated that student teachers made valuablecontributions to the schools they worked in andthe community they interacted with such as openingstudents’ world to other cultures and worldevents and using different ways of teaching. It isimportant to note here that student teachers gavepresentations about Turkey and different elementsof Turkish culture (music, art, sports, etc.) in theirclassrooms, which were followed by questio-n–answer sessions between high school studentsand Turkish student teachers. Mentor teachersalso agreed that student teachers were great helpin the classroom. According to mentors’ observa-tion, student teachers gradually established verygood relationships with both students and thestaff in the schools. Student teachers impressedthe mentor teachers by using various teachingtechniques, which convinced the mentors that theyhad student teachers with sound background inmethodology.

In the interviews, student teachers stated thattheir presence in the US classrooms and societyhelped American people know better about the restof the world. Both in their schools and in thecommunity they lived in student teachers wereasked a lot of questions about Turkey and theMiddle East. One student teacher also assertedthat students in her/his high school benefited fromher/his strong background in her/his field as well.This quotation from one of the student teachers thatwas interviewed summarizes the overall contribu-

tion of the student teachers to the US context:

I did my bachelor’s degree in English languageand literature. Therefore I used my background.In my third year, we read the novel ‘‘WutheringHeights’’ and that was the novel I taught in theUSA in my high school. So, I owe all my know-ledge to what I learned here both at the master’sdegree in the faculty of education and at myuniversity (bachelor’s degree). I shared my expe-rience with them. I also talked to people aboutTurkish culture. I realized that many people,many Americans that I talked to, did not knowvery much about our culture. So, I think not onlyme but all of my friends, we were just kind of likea bridge between two cultures. So, there was thiscultural aspect as well. Plus, as being a teacherI tried to be a role model to my students whileI was working in my school [y]. Apart fromthat, we attended too many seminars and wetalked to and met with different people anddifferent students as well. So, we exchanged ourideas about education. So, basically I believe thatI shared what I know, my knowledge, my lasttime experience and I also learned theirs as well.

Mentor teachers’ views that were reported aboveto answer the second research question also supportthe idea that student teachers had valuable con-tributions to the US context professionally, person-ally, and culturally. One of the mentor teachersexpresses the overall views of all mentor teachersregarding the second research question very well:

Having an international student teacher defi-nitely affected my classroom environment verypositively. My students are from a very homo-geneous community. We have tried to open theirworld to other cultures, but nothing can compareto having representatives from other parts of theworld with them for several weeks. Fortunately,not only were the Turkish students excellentteachers, they also were quite accommodatingabout answering questions and sharing theirculture with our students. The high schoolstudents learned to adapt to other ways ofteaching and other types of expectations.

4.4. Challenges

Apart from answers to the research questionsstated above, it would be helpful to reportadditional information obtained through surveys


and interviews for future research studies andprogram organizations. This would certainly helpus better contextualize the study and the findingsreported above as well as provide a thick descriptionof this unique international project.

This internship experience, without any doubt,brought some challenges for both mentor andstudent teachers. Regarding the challenges that thementor teachers experienced, one mentor teacherexpressed his/her discomfort while s/he was to askstudent teachers to get engaged in teaching taskswhile student teachers were not very eager to getfully engaged. For example, some student teacherspreferred to remain as ‘‘observers’’ throughout theinternship project whereas they were expected to begradually involved in teaching. This remark pointsout the need to engage mentor teachers in decision-making mechanism more in the program. Theprogram administration was mostly centralized atthe collaborating university and mentor teacherswere not given much autonomy in deciding whatthey wanted to do with their student teachers. Oneof the mentor teachers mentioned that having threestudent teachers in his/her classroom preventedhim/her from mentoring all three student teachersas well as s/he would like to. Only two mentorteachers had three student teachers (all others hadpairs) and the other mentor teacher did not see thisas a problem. Placing three student teachers in oneclassroom was a decision made by the projectadministration. This decision might have resultedfrom budget constraints as each mentor teacher wasto be paid for their participation in the program.Mentor teachers thought that some on-campusactivities at the collaborating university (meetings,seminars, etc.) and activities that were organized ona short notice kept student teachers away fromteaching focus. Student teachers mentioned thesame concern pointing out that they could notconcentrate on on-campus activities since they wereusually tired after a long day of student teaching atschools. Like student teachers, one mentor teacheralso suggested that the internship period beextended and that mentor teachers join studentteachers during trips to big cities.

5. Conclusion

It is a fact that not all preservice teachers inTurkey or in any other country in the world aregiven a chance to have an international studentteaching experience. Without doubt, such a big

project was funded and organized with highexpectations of good outcomes. This project wasproved very successful through building close tiesbetween mentor teachers and student teachers andthe extensive amount of time the latter spent in USschools observing and teaching classes. The 26Turkish student teachers who completed this intern-ship are now all working in renowned high schoolsin Turkey with a strong background in progressiveteaching strategies and with hopes of movingtoward higher positions where they can bring moreand more innovations to Turkish educationalsystem. It is very clear that such internationalexchange programs are likely to promote betterunderstanding among peoples of the world. Find-ings of this study indicate that Turkish studentteachers benefited from this experience to a greatextent both personally and professionally. Studentteachers reported increased level of ‘‘self-develop-ment’’ and took a step forward to becoming ‘‘cross-culturally effective persons’’, and gained ‘‘globalperspectives’’ which all are likely to help them excelin their teaching careers (Wilson, 1987). They hadunforgettable memories, friendships, and connec-tions in the USA. They interacted with Americanpeople and they both learned about America andtaught Americans about Turkey. This overseasteaching experience also strengthened some of thestudent teachers’ beliefs about their own systems,rendering them more optimistic about the educa-tional system in their home country. The findings ofthis study provided further support for ‘‘increasedcultural awareness and improved self-efficacy, aswell as professional development in terms of global-mindedness’’ as the benefits of overseas teachingexperience (Cushner & Mahon, 2002, p. 44).

Turkish student teachers also encountered someorganizational problems such as having dual focusteaching practice in the high school and responsi-bilities in the university. Some of mentor teachersalso faced several problems such as being responsiblefor three student teachers and unclear expectations.Yet, these drawbacks are not insurmountable;more effective experience can be guaranteed througha more careful organization, collective decision-making process, and a better needs analysis.

Such a project can only be manageable with astrong collaboration between universities in twodifferent countries and with a funding fromgovernmental and non-governmental institutions.It is our hope that more resources would beallocated to education so that most of the preservice

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Table A1

Ideas and themes from student teacher surveys

Questions Ideas/themes

How do you think your internship

in a US high school contributed to

your professional development?

� Comparing two educational

systems

� A step towards

professionalism

� Increased technological

expertise

� Autonomy

During your internship in the

USA describe chances you had to

implement any of the teaching

strategies that you had learned or

used in Turkey?

� Had efficient training on

methodology in Turkey

� Had solid pedagogical

knowledge

� Restrictions to use his/her

own strategies due to lack of

full autonomy

� Use of technology

Which of the teaching strategies

that you developed, practiced, or

learned in the USA can you

implement in or adapt to the

Turkish context?

� Some technical obstacles to

use technology in Turkish

classrooms

� New strategies

� New classroom management

ideas

How do you think your

experience with technology use in

classrooms in the USA can

enhance your teaching practices in

Turkey?

� Some technical obstacles to

use technology in Turkish

classrooms

� Integration of technology into

teaching

� Non-satisfactory experience

with technology in the USA


experience in the USA

contributed to your knowledge of

other cultures?

� Multicultural awareness

� Enriched teaching philosophy

� Comparison of cultures and

lifestyles

� Understanding diversity

What impact did your overall

internship experience in the USA

have on your personal

competencies?

� Better understanding of

teamwork

� Better friendships

� Improved social skills

� Intellectual development

� Gaining more sense of

responsibility


teachers could have such a unique opportunity.Having internships not only in other countries in theworld, but also other regions within their homecountry could help preservice teachers broaden theirperspectives, learn more about both national andinternational realities, and become better educators.The internship program discussed in this study canbe a very good start for the future projects in termsof its organization and outcomes. Further studiescan be conducted through actually observingstudent teachers’ development in practice beforeand after the internship instead of relying on self-reports, which was one of the limitations of thisstudy. This would provide the funding organiza-tions with more evidence that international teachingexperiences are likely to contribute to professionaland personal development of preservice teachersand to increase intercultural understanding to agreat extent.

Further research can be conducted investigatingthe long-term effects of this internship program onstudent teachers’ professional development throughlongitudinal studies. Views from student teacherswith internship experience within the country andthe ones with international experience could becompared to investigate the necessity of suchprograms and its compatibility with the immediateneeds of the Turkish educational system.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Donna Merkley and CarolChapelle for their valuable feedback on thisresearch study. And my special acknowledgementis to Evrim Baran Sahin and two other anonymousreviewers for their review of the manuscript.

Appendix A

See Tables A1–A3.Survey questions to the student teachers

Were there any major problems

that you encountered during your

experience in the USA? If so, what

� None

� Food
1.
were they?

If you were asked to offer one � Integration with daily/campus

How do you think your internship in a US highschool contributed to your professional develop-ment?

change in this internship program

to make it a better experience

life

� More and better opportunities
2.
what would it be? for professional development

� Better organization of

During your internship in the USA describechances you had to implement any of the teachingstrategies that you had learned or used in Turkey?

seminars
3. Which of the teaching strategies that youdeveloped, practiced, or learned in the USA canyou implement in or adapt to the Turkishcontext?

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Table A3

Ideas and main themes from interviews with student teachers


How do you think you

contributed to the environment

where you did your internship

in (i.e. school, society, etc.)?

� Students learned a lot about

Turkish culture, customs,

and literature about which

they were quite uninformed

� There was a considerable

amount of cultural exchange

between US and American

people

In what ways did you interact

with the US culture? Who, if

any, facilitated those

interactions?

� Trips to other cities

(Chicago, Washington DC)

� Homestays were

disappointing because of

different perceptions of

hosting guests

� Homestays were important

means to interact with

American culture

� Mentors and American

project supervisor (graduate

assistant)

� The program determined the

ways to a great extent

� Great involvement in the

city life in Ames

Could you summarize your

perceptions of the USA before

and after your internship

experience?

� Already existing image of

the USA in our minds

through Hollywood movies

and media was confirmed

and consolidated

� Totally different education

system

� We did not have any

prejudice about the US but

Americans had about

Turkey

� American people have a

good level of tolerance

toward each other and they

respect to each other


experience in the USA will

make you a better teacher?

� We gained a great deal of

self-confidence

� We had chance to observe

student profiles, school life

and vision of education in

the USA

� Group work is very

common in the USA, which

I plan to use in my

classrooms as well

� Student-centered activities,

facilitating role of the

teacher

Table A2

Ideas and main themes from mentor teachers’ answers to the

survey questions


How do you think the presence

of an international student

teacher changed your classroom

environment?

� Opening students’ world to

other cultures and world

events

� Different ways of teaching

� Great help in the classroom

� More understanding and

tolerance for Muslims

When you compare the first and

the last week of the internship,

what would you say about the

relationships of the student

teacher with either your

students or other faculty and

staff in your school?

� Close interaction and good

relationships with staff and

students

What different teaching

strategies did you observe in

your student teachers’ teaching

practices?

� Student teachers had good

background in methodology

What changes did you observe

in your student teacher both

professionally and personally

throughout the whole

internship?

� Considerable personal and

professional growth

� More independent

� More self-motivated

� More friendly

� More confident teaching

� Language improvement

� Greater self-confidence

What was the biggest challenge

for you as a participant in this

international project?

� Expectations were not very

clear

� Student teachers were not

always familiar with the

content

� Language

� Being a first-time mentor

teacher in the program

� Having three student

teachers

What is one change in this

internship program that would

make it a better experience?

� Less paperwork

� More focus on teaching

rather than university

activities

� More time in subject group

seminars

� Opportunity to observe

teachers in different settings

� Extended internship

� Mentors go to city trips with

student teachers

� More organization

� Assigning one student

teacher per mentor teacher

M. Sahin / Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 1777–17901788

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Table A3 (continued )


� Opportunity to personalize

my teaching, a step towards

professionalism

What were the major differences

between your internship

experiences in Turkey and the

one in the USA?

� Active involvement in both

settings

� Lack of infrastructure and

some financial problems in

Turkey

� There is no huge gap

between Turkey and the

USA regarding the quality

of education, in contrast to

what we had believed before

we went there

� Good communication with

the mentor teacher helped

me to get ready for the

internship well

� Mentor teachers were very

more helpful, constructive,

and motivating in the USA

� Spending 6 weeks in our

school full time was very

helpful, instead of going to

internship once a week as it

is the case in Turkey

� We were more autonomous,

had chance to try new things

� Different methodology in

US classrooms, teachers are

more flexible, no

‘‘memorizing’’ in history

classes

Apart from promoting your

professional development, how

this internship experience

helped you?

� Opportunity to know the

USA better

� If resources allocated well in

Turkey, we can achieve

better things

� Education policy should not

depend on names in power

in Turkey

� Gained more courage and

confidence, became more

open to try new things, and

to innovations

� Learned the importance of

extra-curricular activities

� It helped to know myself

better

� Learned how to establish

better communication with

other people

� Had a better idea of the

importance of technology in

education


4.
How do you think your experience with technol-ogy use in classrooms in the USA can enhanceyour teaching practices in Turkey?
5.
How do you think your experience in theUSA contributed to your knowledge of othercultures?
6.
What impact did your overall internship experi-ence in the USA have on your personalcompetencies?
7.
Were there any major problems that youencountered during your experience in theUSA? If so, what were they?
8.
If you were asked to offer one change in thisinternship program to make it a better experiencewhat would it be?
Survey questions to the mentor teachers

1.
How do you think the presence of an interna-tional student teacher changed your classroomenvironment?
2.
When you compare the first and the last week ofthe internship, what would you say about therelationships of the student teacher with eitheryour students or other faculty and staff in yourschool?
3.
What different teaching strategies did youobserve in your student teachers’ teachingpractices?
4.
What changes did you observe in your studentteacher both professionally and personallythroughout the whole internship?
5.
What was the biggest challenge for you as aparticipant in this international project?
6.
What is one change in this internship programthat would make it a better experience?
Interview questions to the student teachers

1.
How do you think you contributed to theenvironment where you did your internship in(i.e. school, society, etc.)?
2.
In what ways did you interact with the USculture? Who, if any, facilitated those interac-tions?
3.
Could you summarize your perceptions of theUSA before and after your internship experience?
4.
How do you think your experience in the USAwill make you a better teacher?
5.
What were the major differences between yourinternship experiences in Turkey and the one inthe USA?


6.
Apart from promoting your professional devel-opment, how this internship experience helpedyou?
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Documents

Cross-cultural experience in preservice teacher education