The effects of social constructivist learning environment on intercultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism of students

The aim of this research is to find out the effect of Social Constructivist Learning Environment (SCLE) design model on the ethnocentrism and intercultural sensitivity scores of 7th-grade-students. The research was applied in English as a foreign language lessons at Siteler Junior High School in Esenyurt, Istanbul in the educational year 2011-2012 using an experimental method for four weeks. The study groups were selected randomly and Independent samples T –Test was used to determine the equality of the groups in terms of academic performance, success at English as a foreign language and conduct grades. While the control group (n=40) was applied MEB curriculum as usual lessons, the experiment group (n=39) was given a four-week SCLE design for English as a foreign language lessons. An original scale to measure the intercultural sensitivity and another original scale to measure the ethnocentrism scores of secondary school students were developed for this research. An exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was carried out to determine the construct validity and the Cronbach Alpha coefficients to determine the reliability of the measurements. Proved to be statistically acceptable, the scales were used as pre, post and retention tests in the research. As to the results, according to the post-tests scores, no significant difference was detected between the control and the experiment groups in terms of ethnocentrism and intercultural sensitivity scores when pretest scores were controlled. However, in terms of retention, a significant difference was determined both for the ethnocentrism and intercultural sensitivity scores of the groups, in favor of the experiment group when posttest scores were controlled. The results revealed that the first and the third hypothesis were rejected while the second and the third hypothesis were accepted.