Abstract:

In today’s global world cultural diversity has become an issue that has to appreciate in many spheres of life. Cultural sensitivity is of particular importance in the sphere of education as academic mobility has been increasing recently. For a number of decades, Russian medical schools have been offering their programmes to students from all over the world. The international medical students are ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse. So is the Russian culture to which they have to accommodate. Therefore, the development of sociocultural awareness and sensitivity will help medical educators identify culture-specific motivational drivers, optimally balance and adjust them to the universal values and the values of the accepting culture.

The issues of culture-bound academic motivation have already been explored in a number of papers. F. Н. Weeks, H. H. Adams, A. Behannia, N. S. Londadjim, G. K. Sadek, M. Diame analyzed various aspects of learning cultures of students from different socio-cultural backgrounds. However, no comparative study of academic motivational drivers has been conducted.

The purpose of the present study was to reveal culture-bound motivational drivers in the major groups of international medical students (African, Arab, Indian) as the rationale for developing an effective instructional approach and enhancing student satisfaction.

The study was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved a systematic review to critically appraise the findings of previous studies of academic motivation in various cultures. At the second stage, two consecutive surveys of international medical students were performed. The online survey (Google Form) in English comprising 15 questions was successively offered to first-year medical students (n=52) and first- to four-year students (n=140) of three Russian medical universities. The total number of participants was 192.

The findings were quantified and processed using Google Sheets and Statistica 6.0 software. The obtained results were correlated with the review findings to explore the interplay of universal and culture-bound motivational drivers and their dynamics owing to enculturation and resocialization processes.

The survey yielded a variety of data, which were systemized based on age, gender, and ethnic differences in motivational drivers. The study findings have demonstrated that the motivational drivers of international medical students change as they progress from junior to senior years of study. First-year students are basically motivated by the values relevant to their cultural background. Senior students tend to shift to more universal motivational drivers and those inherent in the Russian cultural context. There are also slight gender and age differences, which are, however, resultant from the gender and age stereotypes common to their cultures.

One of the major implications of the study is that student satisfaction and academic achievements are closely correlated with the extent to which academic motivation is incorporated in the instruction approaches. The latter is a dynamic parameter, which is progressing from being of mainly socio-cultural nature towards the universal values of the medical profession. Therefore, a flexible teaching approach is required at different stages of education, which will help students adopt new learning stereotypes, accommodate their cultural views to them, and, finally, develop a new learning culture aligning with their profession.

Keywords:

Academic motivation, international medical students, universal and culture-bound motivational drivers.