First Advisor

Geremie Sawadogo

Abstract

The idea for this thesis evolved from a year and a half spent working at Tulane University's International Student and Scholar Office in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was here that the requirements for the internship portion of the Master's Degree in International Administration were fulfilled and where I was first exposed to the Japanese culture on a large scale.

Originally the plan was to track attitudes and perceptions of English as a Second Language students who were studying at Tulane as part of its ESL Institute. At the time that I was beginning the research I learned that I had been accepted into the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and would be leaving New Orleans at the beginning of June. This led to the next level of research.

It seemed appropriate to change the focus of the research and concentrate my efforts on American participants of the JET Program and how their attitudes and perceptions of Japanese society and culture are impacted by their participation in the program. The logic for this was twofold. I would be a participant in the program and therefore would have better access to the other participants. There would be a year to distribute the surveys and compile the data. Both of these reasons pointed to a better end product.

Disciplines

International and Comparative Education

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