The Community College at the CrossroadsIntroduction

This chapter is the story of a community college set inthe crossroads of the world between Europe, Asia and Africa. Tobe more precise, our community college is the EnglishPreparatory School (EPS), which is situated in North Cyprus,part of the Island in the Eastern Mediterranean sea.1

Our motivation and purpose in constructing the chapter aswe do is to first collect ideas and experiences from a trulydiverse set of personal narratives into a harmonious pattern. The narratives come from various cultures such as Azerbaijan,Iran, Mongolia, Turkey, and Guinea, and they tell how studentsfrom these cultures interpret the EPS. We hope, as Edward Saidwrites (Said, 1975), that "patterns that the reader finds willallow beginnings to generate in the mind” and that this chapterwill form a coherent unity with other authors who areinterested in the issue of community colleges. The goal of ourchapter is not only to present to interested readers adescription of a community college institution in an unfamiliarpart of the world, but also to provide a framework for thinkingabout the interplay between learning and culture at the levelof the individual student in a multiethnic college. Culturerefers to a particular set of socially agreed upon beliefs usedto live in the world. Inasmuch as the EPS serves an exceedingly

1 Cyprus is the third largest Island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia. The main ethnic groups inhabiting Cyprus are Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Due to political reasons in 1974 the Island was split into the Greek and Turkish parts whereas the Greek part is officially known as Cyprusand the Turkish part as Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) or North Cyprus. After the de facto partition of the island in 1974, Turkish Cypriotswho were in immigration in Turkey, UK and Australia started returning to Cyprus. In addition, some 20,000 Turkish guest workers moved to the Island to revive the Turkish Cypriot economy. Many of these workers eventually decided to remain permanently and take TRNC citizenship. Some immigration from Turkey continued in subsequent years. Largely as a result of this dual immigration, the Turkish Cypriot population totaled 167,256 in 1988, and 260, 100 in 2007 according to the TRNC State Planning Organization.

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diverse clientele, it is not surprising that it treats learningand culture in a singular manner. The institution and itsfaculty meet these challenges. The following sections provideexplanation of how the EPS fulfils the roles of educatingindividual students and sorting out the needs of the diversestudent body.

The EPS in the Role of English Preparatory School The EPS, which has a student population of 2085, is

situated in Famagusta, the second largest town in North Cyprus which has a population of 35, 453. Famagusta is also consideredto be a university town because it has the largest university (Eastern Mediterranean University ‘EMU’) on the Island, as wellas the largest community college-type institution—the EPS. Students who are not proficient in English are required to study at the EPS in order to be able to study in their chosen departments of EMU. At the beginning of the academic year, students sit in a placement test, which allocates them to a particular level of study, for e.g.: elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, and upper-intermediate. In the EPS,there is a semester-based system, which is a four- month periodof intensive English instruction and the students are expected to complete two levels in each semester.

The EPS offers intensive English language education to students to help them for university studies. The students studying at the EPS are mainly from Turkey and North Cyprus. In2007-2008 academic year, 60 % of Turkish students who came to study in North Cyprus had chosen the EPS.

The EPS is a popular place for students because it has many learning advantages. Firstly, it provides quality education to its students. EPS is an internationally recognizedTOEFL IBT Centre 2and an accredited Cambridge ESOL Teacher

2 TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) IBT (internet-based testing) measures the ability of non-native speakers of English to use and understand English as it is spoken, written, and heard in college and university settings (Educational Testing Service, 2007).

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Training Centre.3 The EPS offers courses for university students, prospective graduates and university graduates who prepare for and sit the TOEFL IBT. Moreover, the EPS also givesuniversity graduates the opportunity to receive an internationally recognized Teacher Training Certificate, that enables them to teach English anywhere in the world. The EPS also provides language-learning opportunities to state schoolteachers as well as individuals in the community.

Secondly, upon successfully completing the school’s language program and fulfilling all the academic requirements of the school, students may enroll in their departments in Faculties and Schools.

Thirdly, the EPS fosters autonomous and life-long learningin students by encouraging them to take responsibility for their own learning. The EPS has more than 100 classrooms in twobuildings. Each classroom is equipped with a CD player and an overhead projector. There are also fully integrated Student Self Study Centers (SSSC), comprised of multi-media areas, a library area, a listening area, a speaking area, a video, DVD and satellite TV areas. The aim of these SSSCs is to provide and maintain an environment that encourages students to take individual responsibility for their own learning.

The EPS in the Role of a Community College The EPS is a higher education institution that serves

students who are in between high school and a four-year collegeexperience. As such the EPS is not dissimilar from the description given by Burton Clark of American two-year community colleges whose comprehensiveness includes college

3 Cambridge ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) exams are the world’s leading range of certificates for learners of English. Each year over 2 million people in 130 countries take them. They help students to gainentrance to a university or college, improve job prospects, and measure progress in English. Cambridge ESOL’s world renewed teaching awards provide a route into the English language teaching profession for new teachers and first class career development opportunities for experienced teachers (Cambridgeesol.org).

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transfer programs, short-term vocational study, and adult education, as well as parts of what Clark labels a miscellany of opportunities that do not fit such basic categories (Clark, 1997). At the EPS students benefit from an ease of enrollment and can obtain skills necessary for eventual enrollment in 4-year universities. The curriculum in the EPS guides students who are not quite ready for the challenge of the four year college and assists them in selecting an eventual major and course of study upon completion of their work. In this sense the EPS has a strong match programmatically with community colleges in North America and in Western Europe. For instance, the EPS has similar program offerings to Chicago community colleges that serve students who want to improve English language skills, (Chicago City College website, 2007: cccacademic-programs/adult_gen_info.shtml) and to the University of Hamburg in Germany that offers preparatory courses for the subject matter. (http://www.verwaltung.uni-hamburg.de/vp-2/5/Propaedeutikum_e.html). Such planning enablesstudents to thrive in a global and technological world and to build local and international relationships that address the changing needs and interests of a community comprised of a variety of cultures and backgrounds. Perhaps the set of community college-type institutions that are most comparable tothe EPS are known as Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). According to Laden “HSIs are establishing themselves as de facto multicultural institutions by virtue of who attends them.As such, they call even more for leadership recognition of and critical pedagogical approaches that are sensitive to diverse cultures and identities within and across these institutions” (Laden 2004, p.191) Both the EPS and HSIs serve culturally different students from diverse backgrounds. HSIs serve a multicultural and multiethnic environment with Hispanic and non-Hispanic White students attending these institutions. The EPS serves a student population that includes a large number ofTurkish mainlanders, Turkish Cypriots plus students from other countries. 

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The EPS aims to develop autonomous, self-independent students who are capable of self-monitoring their progress in language learning and realizing their own unique styles of learning. Students who come to study in the EPS are often far from being autonomous and independent learners. The EPS plays akey role in this transferring stage as it acts as a bridge between high schools and university. There are class options available for students at multiple learning levels. The EPS is responsible for equipping students with necessary skills and strategies that will help them survive academically in their chosen departments. These aims require students to reflect on what and how they have learned, and to identify the gaps or weaknesses in their knowledge or skills and thus, make a coherent plan for students who require remedial practice. According to Clark “Remedial education is spread throughout American higher education, from leading universities to community colleges”(Clark, 1997, p.31). “The problem of teaching poorly prepared students is compounded in the two-yearcollege by its concentration on the first two years of the four-year undergraduate curriculum and on short-term vocationaland semi-professional programs. This curricular context calls for repetitive teaching of introductory courses. Since community colleges experience much student attrition during andafter the first year of study, due to a variety of personal, occupational, and academic reasons, teaching is concentrated infirst-year courses” (p.32). At the EPS in fact, much instruction is augmented by counseling, extracurricular coursesand tutoring services.

Funding of the EPS comes from both the government andprivate sectors, and the EPS is dedicated to serving the NorthCyprus community by keeping an open door with lower tuitionrates and relaxed entrance requirements. A challenge the EPSfaces is how to address and incorporate the vision of amulticultural organizational culture into the EPS community. The organizational structure and the curriculum of EPS are intransition from a mono-cultural to a multicultural framework

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(Laden, 2004). The EPS strives to cultivate students' capacityfor self-direction.  A number of initiatives are pursued in theEPS that recognize the cultural traditions, norms andperspectives of international students who are enrolled. Theseinitiatives are by-yearly festivals; celebration of students’work; recognition of scholarship; musical programs, and so on.As such, the EPS is a particularly important institution formediating the process by which individual students grow andlearn and for reflecting societal values of what constituteslearning and growth (Roth, 1984). The EPS reaffirms whatcultural values count as knowledge.

The reasons that students choose community colleges are “to prepare for transfer, or improve their English or basic literacy skills” (Laden, 2004 serving majority sts). “….. students attend community colleges as a gateway to senior institutions, expecting to complete transferable courses and receive the guidance and mentoring necessary to successfully navigate postsecondary institutions” (Martinez&Fernandez, 2004). For instance, the Latino community has the highest transfer rate to four-year institutions through the HSIs (Laden2004). Most of the doctoral students from Latino communities come from “two – to four- year HSIs into doctoral-granting institutions” (Laden 2004, p.?). Similarly, most students in North Cyprus begin their higher education via the EPS, even those planning a route from EPS to an MA program.

Another example of the transfer function in communitycollege is described by Starobin (2002) who suggests thatjunior colleges in Japan collaborate with 4-year universitiesto establish ‘seamless transfer systems’ (p. 501) meaning thatstudents in the community college have a direct academictransition into a higher institution after a successfulcompletion of the program offered by the community college.This type of transfer system actually exists between the EPSand EMU since students who finish the EPS have the right totransfer directly to the EMU and study in their preferredsubject. This is a major advantage of the EPS as compared to

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other colleges, which cannot offer the "seamless transfersystem."

The ‘transfer function’ “enables institutions to set transfer goals, include transfer in their strategic planning, and document student flow to determine how many students are benefiting from transfer efforts, what ‘works in transfer, and whether additional institutional efforts are needed” (Rendon and Nora, 1994, p.147 cited in Martinez&Fernandez, 2004, p.54).

Also, community colleges provide students "with innovativeafter-school, weekend, and summer programs in a number ofareas, including some literacy and English classes for parents"(Laden, p.87). Similarly, the EPS offers a variety of extra-curricular activities in order to enrich the social andcultural life of the EPS students, and improve their personaland group communication skills. These include conversation,drama, dance, mime, journalism, writing and photography clubsas well as sport activities.

There is also Student Counseling and Information Center(SCIC) at the EPS. The main aim of this center is to promoteeducational activities in the EPS. At the beginning of theacademic year, the counseling center usually providesorientation sessions about the university and its environment.The SCIC also offers sessions to students in order to identifytheir learning styles, improve their study skills, and helpthem follow individual self-study plans. Students have theopportunity to visit the center to discuss school or personalproblems in a supportive environment.

MethodologyThis chapter continues an action research project begun in

Spring of 2007 in a graduate class at the Eastern MediterraneanUniversity in North Cyprus. That project sought to reveal adescriptive insight of international students at EMU as areference point for further investigation into the problem oftheir adjustment, issues of student’s living in a foreigncountry, and their intercultural experiences. Three authors of

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this chapter are 'international' visitors to North Cyprus andthe fourth author is Turkish Cypriot, and we are interested inthe stories of international students and Turkish mainlandstudents enrolled in the EPS and how they learn in a new andever-changing social environment.  In current writing on actionresearch Richard Winter identifies action research as a form ofresearch that directly focuses on developing new knowledge(Winter, 2007). In this chapter we develop new knowledge aboutcommunity colleges worldwide. We reflect upon our personalexperience and learning and on the experience of others so thatwe might make useful suggestions for future growth and change.This is part of what Bakhtin calls a conversation in progress(Bakhtin, 1984). We assume that the suggestions andconversations that we include may produce further questions toexplore in the worldwide conversation about community collegesas it related to globalization and change. The puzzles ofcultural diversity, and multi-ethnic education are rooted in alarger puzzle of globalization. Current research onglobalization identifies at least three defining features 1)widespread change in communication technologies; 2) emergingglobal markets and post-national knowledge economies; and 3)unprecedented levels of immigration and displacement ofpopulation (Suarez-Orozco, 2001).

 The conversation that we consider in this study focuses on the role that cultural diversity plays within our community college institution and the implications that diversity has forthe process of becoming and being literate. Ferdman for one, asserts that literacy is culturally framed and defined (Ferdman, 1990). We assume that cultural literacy in an institution changes the lives of students enrolled and steers them towards eventual educational opportunities in the four-year institution that they hope to attend.

On the one hand, our story is a case study that focuses ona group of five international students enrolled in the EPS whomwe treated as individuals, since these students represent a

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mixed minority perspective.4 We consider the internationalstudents as representing a minority group in the EPS. And, onthe other hand, our study also focuses on two groups of Turkishspeakers whose experience is comparable to the experiences ofLatinos within an Anglo dominant school.  The distinctionbetween the group level and the individual level is importantbecause individuals may acculturate or in fact learn morerapidly than groups as a whole, since we found thatinternational students were better able to focus on learningthan on group cultural concerns (Berry, 1986). For example,when confronted by a difficult concept that is taught inEnglish a Turkish speaking student may ask a Turkish speakinginstructor to explain in Turkish, while a Guinean or Azeristudent must seek to learn in English. Our assumption in theinterviews is metonymic since we feel that we can tell muchabout the whole of the institution by telling an in-depth studyof its crucial participants. 

The findings of our study can be said to be generalizablebecause of the sampling procedures that we employed. In thissense we employed "horizontal generalizability” such that ifthe same sampling procedures were performed on a populationwhich has the same characteristics as the EPS, our reader couldexpect to see our findings replicated in the second study(Romberg & Stephens, 1986).  How does an institution like EPSserve a culturally diverse student population and ensure thatdifferent forms of knowledge and experience brought by studentsto the crossroads are acknowledged and incorporated in amulticultural approach? Put another way, how does theinstitution produce unity within diversity?

Unity may emerge from shared dispositions towardeducation. Many new students entering the EPS come fromsocieties that place importance on the role of education in

4 Out of 2085 students in the EPS: 1589 come from Turkey, 409 come from Cyprus, and 87 from other nationalities such as: Azerbaijan 7, Bulgaria 1, Chad 2, China 1, Eritrea 1, Palestine 5, Guinea 7, Iraq 10, Iran 20, Kazakhstan 6, Kirgizistan 8, Mongolia 6, Nigeria 1, Pakistan 3, Tajikistan 2, Turkmenistan 3, Ukraine 1, Jordan 3.

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personal and professional development. They may come fromcountries where they have grown up spending more hours inschools than their fellow students in North Cyprus. So valuesplaced upon succeeding in the EPS differ between students fromthe host culture and those coming from other lands (Fuligni,2001). In the following sections we provide interview findingsand consider from an individual and from a group point of viewthe process of learning in the EPS. The relationship of theindividual to the group forms the basis for learning in aculturally diverse institution.  We interviewed the students inour sample since they offer a study in difference and acontrast to two majority groups of students who predominate atEPS. Questions that were used in the interviews withinternational students focus upon students' attitudes,knowledge, and values. How do we evaluate the findings of theindividuals and groups we spoke with? Narrativization assumesthe speaker’s point of view and what counts as fact is theproduct of author’s interpretation, so facts andinterpretations shape one another (Stivers, 1993). An importantevaluative criterion we used is coherence (Agar&Hobbs, 1982).To show an interpretation is more than ad hoc, coherence must be“thick”. That is it must be global, local and themal. Oursubjects gave responses used contrasts, actions andjuxtapositions. Responses were themal in that patterns runthroughout and responses were local about the currentconditions at the EPS. Taken together, the interviews offerdifferent perspectives on the same discourse problem whereas atother times they reinforce different perspectives.

InterviewsWe have interviewed international students who are

enrolled in the EPS and have focused on the role of languageand instructional technology (IT).  The problematic quality oflanguage has a critical role in the chapter since the dominantlanguage of most students is not English, yet the official

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language of instruction is English.5 We explore the role of ITin shaping the experience of students in the school and discussthe way that the school and local community intersect toenhance students' experience. A transcript of findings is frominterviews with a set of students from the school who have cometo North Cyprus from Mongolia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Guinea.  Inour story line all the students have pseudonyms. We call themDomrul, Kamyar, Shaya, Ahmed, and Mongk.

In order to present a broader picture of the EPSinstitution we also include the perspectives of instructors ofthe EPS. This information serves as a complementary material tothe students' interviews and gives a better understanding ofthe particular characteristics of the EPS’s nature.

Interviews with International StudentsDomrul is a Turkish-speaking student from Azerbaijan to

whom the knowledge of local language and cultural similaritieshelp manage better in the environment. Domrul fits well intothe context of Turkish or Turkish Cypriot culture and alsosocializes with other local students. Consequently, he manageswell in the multicultural surrounding of the EPS. According toDomrul, the EPS teachers facilitate foreign students’adaptation of English language and communication inside aculturally diverse population. In Domrul’s case, hissuitability is facilitated by his Azeri background thatsomewhat resembles Turkish Cypriot culture:

Azeri culture and Cyprus culture is same, because the Azerination is Turkish, Turkey and Azerbaijan nation are same people.

5 The provenance of language at the EPS specifically and in North Cyprus generally is highly problematic. There are at least four different ways to classify language. 1)Turkish is the official language of business; 2)Turkishis the preferred social language; 3)English is the medium of classroom instruction; and 4)English is the medium of the internet and software technology. Technological English is regarded by the EPS students as a meansof social communication.

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Kamyar, a student from Iran, mentions that he has somelimited contacts with Turkish people. Kamyar mentions that histeachers help him manage in the school, but that they are notvery helpful when they speak in Turkish. Although Englishproficiency is a goal of the EPS, Turkish language is apreferred language of some teachers in the EPS, and thatpreference detracts from the multicultural environment.

Kamyar and Domrul likewise, mention that time given in theEPS for learning English language is not sufficient:

The service of education in this school is very high, but thetime of education is very little…

Shaya, a student from Iran, is an older student who hopesone day to pursue his MA studies in Communication and MediaFaculty. The difference from other students is that Shaya is amature, astute person, as he claims to be more committed to hisstudies. In addition, Shaya is a more demanding student in theEPS, as he wants to become more proficient in English languagefor MA studies and asks for more suitable materials accordingto his level of studies. He gives less emphasis to the EPS as amulticultural institution than to the EPS as a preparation forhis upcoming MA studies.

Shaya who alike Domrul is a Turkish-speaking student, isbetter able to manage in the culture of North Cyprus. Shayaemphasizes that his knowledge of the Turkish language helps himcommunicate with locals, although he himself is trying to speakmore in English:

…In Cyprus some Turkish students prefer to speak in Turkish …but many times I prefer not to speak with them in Turkish andthey have to speak English with me.

Shaya is ready to sacrifice his friendship with Turkishstudents in order to improve his English and at the same timehe encourages his friends to practice their English by helpingthem to improve their language skills.

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The fact that some Turkish students do not put intensiveefforts to speak English brings into question the self-motivation of Turkish students to learn English.

Ahmed, a student from Guinea, sees his life in NorthCyprus as very colorful. He is very open to making newfriendships and communicating with the local population andother international students. Like other interviewees headapted to the North Cypriot culture quickly and tried to learnthe local language. An important thing for Ahmed is the qualityof classroom education at the EPS, which he thinks, is veryappropriate, and he stresses that the EPS students should workhard and get the maximum out of the facilities that the schoolprovides.

Ahmed as other interviewees is very positive about theteachers; he says that they are very helpful anytime you haveany question. Ahmed is very satisfied with the teachers’counseling, and he describes himself as a very involved andhardworking student. He tries his best to learn English sincehe comes from a French speaking country and understands thelink between English and technology.

Ahmed mentions the importance of internet facilities inthe EPS:

There is a computer lab, when you finish your pop quiz you cancheck your grade from internet.

Ahmed says that the EPS really assists him in his futuremajor and he gives the example of how other staff in the EPS dothis:

There are facilities in the SSSC so you have to do your self-study, to find out how to do some research. Here is everythingyou need to improve your English, you have to be lazy not toimprove your language.

Ahmed is very grateful of the facilities that the EPSoffers the students and he wants to get the most out of it,

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thus encouraging other students to try their best in learningEnglish at EPS. Ahmed expresses gratitude to the North Cypriotcommunity, which he feels has welcomed him.

Mongk a student from Mongolia is different from theabove-mentioned interviewees in that she is a shy girl whodoesn’t speak at length about herself; however she tries togive a picture of the EPS and her student life without manydetails. When asked about interaction with internationalstudents Mongk says that her friends are mostly from Nigeriaand Iran. She suggests the internet as the most useful way tocommunicate with friends.

She likes living on campus rather than outside it, andalong with other interviewees she agrees that North Cyprus isan expensive place to live in, and finds it more difficult fora girl to support herself. Speaking about her academic life,Mongk expresses dissatisfaction with the quality of classroomeducation as she experiences problems when some of the studentsspeak Turkish and the teachers reply in Turkish which she doesnot understand. In our interview with Mongk about theimportance of learning English she emphatically states:

I think in 21 century English is one of the useful languages. Ithink nowadays everybody wants to learn English. If I will getEnglish when I am going abroad I can connect with them.

Mongk is eager to learn English as a means ofcommunication with other people in terms of academics but alsofor connecting socially with them. Mongk thinks that the EPS isvery helpful for her future department in terms of the Englishlanguage skills that she learns. A commonality among 5 interviewees is their interest in the culture and history of North Cyprus. All interviewees are interested in sightseeing and trying to find out more about theeating habits and culture of the local population. Even thoughour interviewees come from very different cultural backgrounds,they share the same views about Turkish Cypriot culture that itis friendly and hospitable toward foreigners. All interviewees

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agree that living in North Cyprus is very expensive and beyond their budget; however they create ways to enjoy the social lifethat the area offers. At the individual level, each international student expressed concerns about learning and belonging in the EPS, both of which they see as attainable. The use of language in the EPS is clearly a problem for some ofour interviewees such as Mongk, Shaya and Kamyar, who all experience unpleasant academic and social situations when theirpeers or teachers speak in Turkish.

Interviews with Turkish StudentsThe answers of the Turkish students used in our story of

the EPS carry very ‘fresh’ opinions since they are expressed bythe ‘new comers’ to North Cyprus. We have three characters fromdifferent parts of Turkey and from different socio-economicbackgrounds. In our story we call them Tulip, Gur, and Raf. Inthe interviews we were interested in four questions, i.e. howthey decided to come to the EPS; what they think about the useof IT in the EPS; what their ideas are on cooperative learningin the EPS; and what they think about the teaching/learningenvironment in the EPS.

Tulip is a 21 year-old - girl who wears a headscarf and along overcoat. She is from the southern part of Turkey. Herparents are not well off, so she took the university entranceexam in Turkey three times to study in a public university butwasn’t successful and decided then to come to the EPS.

Her ambition is to study Psychology. When she wasaccepted into this program she didn’t hesitate. She is aware ofthe importance of learning English, however, the main reasonshe came is that there is no pressure from the universityadministration regarding the way she dresses. As of thiswriting headscarves are not allowed at Turkish universities:

In Turkey you can’t find a job if you don’t speak English. Thisis one of the reasons why I chose the EPS. Also, I won’t haveany problems with my headscarf here. You know the situation inTurkey, we have no right to study at university, this is not

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fair. EMU is relaxed, nobody cares about it. I’ll be relaxedhere, life is not easy in Antep,6 you have lots ofresponsibilities as a woman, if you don’t study and you don’thave a job. Her parents supported her decision to come to the EPS

because it is inside the campus and Famagusta is a safe cityfor girls. Tulip is from a religious family and is not veryconfident about herself.

Tulip is not computer literate because it was notnecessary for her to learn it in high school. She is veryexcited about learning its use. She knows it is essential touse a computer when she goes to her department and for herfuture career:

I am looking forward to learning it, I didn’t have the chance tolearn it before but I’ll have the opportunity to learn it herein the EPS. My friends told me that we need to do presentationsso I have to learn how to use a computer as soon as possible.

Tulip is from a traditional educational system7 and she isnot used to working cooperatively with her peers:

6 Gaziantep informally, Antep, is the capital city of Gaziantep Province in Turkey. It is the sixth largest city of Turkey and it is the largest city inTurkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region. The culture in Gaziantep is mainly influenced by the Arabic, Assyrian, Armenian and Kurdish cultures.

7 In a traditional educational system students sit in rows and the teacheris the sole authority. The teacher is responsible for delivering informationto students and the only communication in class is from teacher to students.The teachers are rather strict and have lots of rules in class. The studentsare not required to work together either in pair or group work activitieswhich maximize students talking time in class and thus enhance cooperationand collaboration among students. Therefore, there is no cooperation inlearning. Moreover, the students are not encouraged to use any kind oftechnology for the purpose of doing research for their projects. In thetraditional system the corporal punishment is an acceptable practice.

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I think it is a good idea to work cooperatively with my friends.I believe that there is so much that we can learn from eachother.

She is happy to be here, she says that there is a friendlyatmosphere in the EPS, which enhances learning:

All the teachers are very friendly and helpful here. You can goto their offices whenever you want, they are ready to help. Inmy high school most of our teachers were very strict and somewere even very aggressive.

Gur is 19 years old and he is from the city of Erzurum inthe far east of Turkey8. Gur says that he came to study in theEPS because it gives quality education in English. In Erzurumthere are few universities and the medium of instruction is inTurkish, not English. He also states that he chose the EPSbecause it gives quality education and that life in NorthCyprus is much more different than life in Erzurum. UnlikeFamagusta, Erzurum is a conservative city and there isn’t muchto do for a typical 18-24 year old:

My girlfriend and I decided to come and study here because ofits good education. My girlfriend’s sister is also studying hereand she is happy. Famagusta is a modern city and social life ismuch better here than Erzurum. In Erzurum people are veryconservative but here they are not. I feel like I’m in a foreigncountry.

Gur learned to use a computer by himself, although in highschool they were not required:

At high school there were some computers but we never used them.We didn’t need to do research or anything like that either. Buthere there are self study centers and we have to use internetfor our projects and presentations. You can also study outside

8 Erzurum is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the capital of Erzurum Province, the largest province in Turkey's Eastern Anatolian Region.

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class by using online materials. Our teachers provide us withsome internet addresses for further study.

Gur pointed out that he didn’t have any experience incollaborative learning. He said that learning becomes moreenjoyable and meaningful when they work cooperatively withtheir peers. He also believes that there is much to learn fromfellow students. Working in groups and in pairs gives them thisopportunity to share ideas/information:

We never had group and pair work activities in class. Everythingwas done individually. I prefer working with my friends ratherthan working on my own. Working on my own is boring.

Gur likes the teaching/learning atmosphere in the EPS. Hesays the teachers are friendly here. In his high school theteachers were rather strict.

Raf from Kusadasi9 stated that the EPS was his 8th choice inthe university entrance exam. His ambition is to become acomputer engineer when he finishes the university. He said thatmost of his friends are studying here and they are happy to bein the EPS. He said that he preferred to study here because itis just like Kusadasi, it is hot and near the beach. Hebelieves that the EPS offers a quality education compared toother private universities in Turkey. He thinks that learningEnglish is very important for his education and future career.He is not very happy about the social life in Famagusta, hesays that there aren’t enough bars and discos for the students:

I came here because of many reasons: Firstly, it is near thebeach and the weather is nice. I have lots of friends here inthis university. Also I have to speak English fluently because Ineed it for my job. A computer engineer should speak Englishwell.

9 Kuşadası is a resort town in the province of Aydın on the Aegean coast of Turkey, and the place of Christian pilgrimage. The area has been a centre ofart and culture since the earliest times and has been settled by many civilizations since being founded in 3000 BC.

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Raf is happy about internet facilities in the EPS. He saidthat there are two self-study centers where he can get accessto the internet whenever he wants. Since he is going to be acomputer engineer, he said that he prefers doing tasks /projects which require them to use internet. In his high schoolthey didn’t need to use computers:

I like using computers for my studies. I like doing researchusing internet for my portfolio tasks.

Raf stated that he didn’t have any experience in workingcooperatively with his peers. He said that they needed to dosome kind of research and projects in high school but they allhad to be done individually. They were not allowed to get helpfrom their peers:

The last time I worked cooperatively with my friends was when Iwas at primary school. But in high school we didn’t have suchtasks and activities. I prefer working cooperatively with myfriends because it is more enjoyable. The teachers in the EPSencourage us to work and help each other all the time.

Raf thinks that the EPS is a lively and friendly place andlearning becomes more enjoyable in such atmosphere. He findsthe teachers especially helpful:

In my high school not all our teachers were friendly. There werelots of rules. But the EPS is very relaxed.

These three stories provide a rich contrast betweenfamiliar and fresh contexts for learning. For Tulip it is arelaxed code of dress, for Gur is a feeling of modernity andfor Raf it is a chance to work cooperatively. Taken togetherthe students have a sense of belonging developing theiridentity in the EPS. In light of data collected from thesestudents, we see that all of them find the EPS more relaxingcompared to their high schools in Turkey. The EPS provides

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students with a completely new, exciting, and challengingeducational environment. Although all three students come fromdifferent parts of Turkey, they found the EPS as a specialplace uniting them through English language learning andcomplementing their cultural backgrounds with new knowledge andvalues.

Cultural ChallengesAs many studies suggest community colleges become the

place of multicultural integration of values where ‘certain cultural forms become legitimized through their inclusion or delegitimized through their absence’. (Rhoads, 1999, p. 121 in Martinez & Fernández, 2004, p.56) This is strongly applicable in the case of the EPS where Turkish students from Turkey compare to other foreign students and Turkish Cypriot students form a striking phenomenon. They represent the largest contingent of the whole student population both in the EMU and the EPS, and though they speak the same language as Turkish Cypriots and have similar culture with them, they are still foreigners in North Cyprus and have to adjust to the local norms of the country. The context of the EPS where we contrast Turkish Cypriots with Turkish students is a minority/majority contrast that compares favorably with certain HSIs where the number of Latino students considerably outnumbers Anglo students.

The process of adjustment to a new environment creates a strong sense of cultural identity (Martinez & Fernández, 2004) and it is vividly seen in the case of Turkish students coming from Turkey to North Cyprus to study. The first challenge to their ‘back-home-build-in’ cultural assumptions comes in the airport when they notice that their Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters differ from them in manners, behavior, physical appearance and language. Cultural adjustments in community colleges have always been an issue of various discussions in literature. (Dayton et al, 2004)

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The flow of time and the way time is regarded socially isa problem for not only Turkish students but also people ofother nationalities as well. Ordinarily, Turkish Cypriots arenot in a rush to do anything, and typically, an expression usedin North Cyprus is ‘yavaş, yavaş’ (slowly, slowly). Time inNorth Cyprus does not mean as much as it does for those comingfrom cosmopolitan cities or countries. This creates stressfulsituations, especially among Turkish and Turkish Cypriots.Often whatever is fast for Turkish Cypriots is slow for Turkishmainlanders. Even the language that Turkish Cypriots speakseems to carry a lazy element. The words (mainly verbs) haveshort, cut endings with some lengthy vowels at the end of eachsentence as if they are pulling up words trying to fill in theempty space before the full stop comes. For example, ‘Neyapiyorsun?’(What are you doing?) in Turkish language, willsound as ‘Napan?’ in Turkish Cypriot language. Naturally, thistype of cut version Turkish creates misunderstandings and funnysituations where Turkish students realize that they are indeedin a foreign country. The pronunciation of many Turkish Cypriotwords also differ from Turkish language and even thegrammatical structure of sentences is different. To the Turkishear they sound awkward and funny. Many Turkish students feelthat the Turkish Cypriot language is less polite language thanTurkish. More sensitive people would even say that the TurkishCypriot language is a rude language because it does not havethe usual polite forms of expressing oneself but has the directform of ordering other people. However, in the eyes of TurkishCypriots such form of communication seems acceptable and evenappreciative because it represents ‘closeness, brotherhood, andintimacy’ among people. Turkish students also find that Turkish Cypriots do notidentify themselves as Turkish. They would rather considerthemselves Europeans, or Cypriots with a British touch.Moreover, there are many foreign, mainly Greek words in theTurkish Cypriot lexicon, the meaning of which mainland Turkishpeople can only guess from the context.

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What really makes Turkish students strangers among TurkishCypriots are values. Compared to Turkish mainlanders, TurkishCypriots are more secular, and religion has less influence ontheir daily lives. Only few of them attend every week Fridayprayer meetings in Mosques, and the majority of those who dofast during the Holy month of Ramadan are people from Turkey.Turkish Cypriots call themselves ‘Bad Muslims’ rather than truebelievers. Such an approach is due to the influence of manycivilizations, cultures and religious movements that existed onthe Island for more than 2000 years. Moreover, Turkish Cypriotswant to differ from Turkish people and they do their best tounderline those areas where Turkish culture and values end andTurkish Cypriot culture begins. However, the attitude ofTurkish Cypriots towards Turkish mainlanders is friendly andtolerant, mainly expressed as playful teasing.

Also, Turkish students would say that Turkish Cypriots arevery careless and, that they set different priorities in life.Turkish mainlanders and Turkish Cypriots have a different workethic. They strongly feel that Turkish Cypriots work less for amuch higher salary than they would get in Turkey. Anotherstriking phrase to the foreign ear after ‘yavaş, yavaş’ is ‘boşver’ (it doesn’t matter). Turkish students get frustrated withthe “boş ver” approach because they are used to getting theirmoney’s worth in Turkey. Turkish people might call TurkishCypriots lazy while Turkish Cypriots call themselves ‘stressfree’ and ‘relaxed’.

These differences between the two groups have importantimplications for classroom learning in the EPS where newarrivals do not share skills acquired by successful students intheir new surroundings. Also the cultural and linguisticcharacteristics and their interplay make for difficultpedagogical and curricular decisions for instructors. Learningin EPS is truly a matter of socialization of different groupsto a completely different set of rules that are continuallycontested.

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For Turkish students to feel assimilated requires anecessary attitude adjustment. As we shall see further on,instructors at the EPS struggle mightily to enable assimilationamong groups and individuals by diversifying instruction,offering counseling opportunities, and creating extracurricularand social opportunities to this effect. Elsewhere the debateon such issues as what should constitute belonging and learningat all levels of education has been going on since at least thewritings E. D. Hirsch and others in the mid 1980s. What shouldbe the nature of the relationship between minority and dominantgroups in not just higher education settings but in the wholesociety? A second question that our discussion suggests at thispoint is: What does learning at the community college leveltell us in relation to the individual’s sense of self as agroup member and in relation to inter-group relations in thesociety as a whole?

Interviews with Instructors from the EPSThe two instructors who also contributed into this

research are teaching in the EPS. Their names are Gunes andGul. The opinions of these two instructors add value to thestudents’ interviews since they look at the problems moreobjectively and can summarize the existing trends in therelationship factors of students, teachers, and foreignenvironment more precisely.

One of the features that makes the EPS a uniqueinstitution from others of its kind according to our interviewwith the EPS teacher Gul is the fact that the EPS preparesstudents for their departments and it gives a general knowledgeof English.

Our other interviewer Gunes says that the EPS providesstudents with not only the opportunity to learn English butwith some other useful lifelong skills and abilities, whichthey will need throughout their academic life and career. Theaim of the EPS is to equip students with some usefulskills/abilities, which will help them survive both in their

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departments and career. Students are trained on how to doresearch on a given topic through using internet facilities andSSSC/ library and then present it in class to their peers againusing internet facilities. They are required to work incollaboration with their peers both in and outside of classthroughout their education in EPS.

Gul agrees that in the EPS the education system is totallydifferent from students’ previous experiences. The life in theEPS is relaxed and friendly. About collaboration in the EPS ourinterviewee Gul says:

In the practice and production stages of the lesson, I usuallyput my students either in groups or in pairs in order tomaximize student talking time in class… I just put them ingroups or in pairs and let them experience using the language …it is good to see how they work cooperatively in order toaccomplish the given task.

Besides teaching English, the EPS also aims to help studentsadopt life-long learning strategies:

In the EPS we have learner-training programs integrated into thesyllabus… Through learner training programs, we try to trainstudents to be self-sufficient learners who are responsible fortheir own learning.

Entering the EPS is very easy as Gul explains:

You do not need to sit an exam in order to study in the EPS. Ifyou choose to study in an English-medium university and if youare not proficient enough in English, you have to study at theEPS for one year in order to improve your English.

So a crucial concern for students is in planning for theireventual four-year university experience. Gunes underlines thatthe use of the internet is widely spread in the EPS:

…both students and teachers have the opportunity to access anyinformation related to teaching/learning process in the EPS such

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as student profiles, time tables and exam results through theEPS website.

Both of the teachers acknowledge that the EPS offers muchmore than English instruction to its students. Opportunitiesfor collaborative work and research give students the chance todevelop higher-level thinking and social awareness. Perforcestudents develop associated skills for problem-solving andcreative thinking. Thus the EPS provides students with theopportunity to develop both their social and academic skills.

ConclusionsInstructors in the EPS employ English language instruction

to effect changes that acculturate newcomers as they come into contact with the new society. For the majority group of Turkishspeakers acculturation involves a uni directional shift from native to host culture in the institution of the EPS and for the minority group of students whose native language is not Turkish this shift is a multi-dimensional negotiation of old and new traditions.

We find that the force that achieves acculturation is English language learning. English language learning involves much more than gaining skills that enable the goals explained before as the transfer functions of the community college. In the EPS, learning English also provides a deep sense of identity, a purpose for employing technology and belonging within a new set of skills. The skills include more sophisticated communication, higher order symbolic and technical competencies, habits of works such as collaborative practice and interpersonal sensibilities that are common in anyglobal setting. The question remains will the acquisition of competences and skills adversely affect other cultural differences. The community college as we see has a problem-solving and a problem-setting capacity.

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