RELATION OF LEARNING STYLE TO INTERCULTURAL SENSITIVITY AND INTERNATIONAL ATTITUDES AMONG JAPANESE UNDERGRADUATES

Abstract

This studyempirically explored how learning style relates to intercultural sensitivity and international attitudes in the context of a Japanese university. Atotal of 109 undergraduate students completed three questionnaires: Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory, Chen and Starosta’s Intercultural Sensitivity Scale, and Yashima’s International Posture as a measurefor international attitudes. Because the factor structure with constituent items of the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale was unresolved, we first examined the configuration of its latent constructs and then identified four underlying components. In terms of intercultural sensitivity, results of regression analysis illustrated that a learning style with a focus on acting over reflecting significantlynegativelyrelated to Anxious Interactionand marginallyrelated to Affirmative andEnjoyment Interaction. Results for international attitudes revealed that the samelearning variable wassignificantlyassociated with Intercultural Approach Tendency,Interest in International Vocation, andWillingness to Communicate to the World, whereas the learning variable of thinking versus feeling was marginally negatively related to Intercultural Approach Tendency. In conclusion, the study suggests that the learning styledimension of actionversus reflection has a strongerinfluence on intercultural sensitivity and international attitudesthan the learning dimension of thinking versus feeling.