How Jordanian Students Learn about Americans? A Case Study at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan

This study investigated how educational programs affect Jordanian students‟ perceptionsof Americans. Students were from Yarmouk University in Jordan. The focus was twofold:first, to document opinions about Americans and American-related topics. Second, to determineif various educational programs relating to Americans impact opinions about Americans. Thefocus of the study compared students involved in cultural exchange programs to students notinvolved in exchange programs. This study was based on a questionnaire distributed to a purposefulsample of undergraduate and graduate students at Yarmouk University. Participation ina cultural exchange program was found to not have a significant effect on opinion of Americans.Program participants reported a greater proportion of “very positive” opinions of Americans,and did not hold “very negative” opinions of Americans, but these differences were not statisticallysignificant. When comparing average opinions on Americans and related questions, exchangeparticipants reported on average more positive opinions in cultural categories, but morenegative opinions in governmental categories. The average confidence in knowledge aboutAmericans was higher in exchange participants than the confidence of non-participants. Havinga more positive opinion of the U.S., American ideas about democracy, American music, movies,and television, and desire to travel to the U.S. all were significantly associated with a more positiveopinion about Americans.