Education Abroad

Recent decades have seen unprecedented growth in the number of students travelling abroad for the purpose of short-term academic study. As such, attention is turning to the role that education abroad can have in enhancing student learning and producing global-ready graduates. This volume provides a succinct and accessible analysis of the existing research and scholarship around the world on a range of important areas related to contemporary education abroad, providing practitioners with important implications for programming and practice. Focusing on fourteen key topics relating to education abroad, this accessible desktop compendium not only synthesizes what is already known, but also indicates which topics need further research and how the existing literature can be applied to daily programming and practice. Extending beyond student learning outcomes to look at essential topics such as institutional outcomes, program models, and host community outcomes, this volume covers major trends in contemporary research as well as an assessment of the methodological and design challenges that are common to education abroad research. The fourteen distinct topics address the broad themes of participation, programming, student outcomes, institutional outcomes and societal outcomes, and include chapters from a broad range of widely acknowledged and respected international experts. Bridging the gap between scholarship and practice, this accessible guide is essential reading for anyone working in higher education today and involved in shaping and managing education abroad programs. It is useful for all who want to understand and leverage existing research to inform education abroad programming and practice.

Written for study abroad practitioners, this book introduces theoretical understandings of key study abroad terms including “the global/national,” “culture,” “native speaker,” “immersion,” and “host society.” Building theories on these notions with perspectives from cultural anthropology, political science, educational studies, linguistics, and narrative studies, it suggests ways to incorporate them in study abroad practices. Through attention to daily activities via the concept of immersion, it reframes study abroad not as an encounter with cultural others but as an occasion to analyze constructions of “differences” in daily life, backgrounded by structural arrangements.

Comprehensive and evidence-based, this book presents the best practices for designing and sustaining study abroad programs to maximize the outcomes and benefits of education abroad for all students. Distilling the history, research, and variations of study abroad programs, Goertler and Schenker provide a clear-eyed analysis of the lessons learned and the common obstacles associated with education abroad. Organized in three parts – the state of education abroad in the US; research on education abroad outcomes; and best practices – Goertler and Schenker demonstrate the benefits of long-term study abroad for the development of advanced language skills and intercultural competence, and the need for diversity in participation. Chapters offer theory-based, practice-proven recommendations to invigorate, innovate, and implement successful study abroad programs that are sustainable and ethically engage with the local community. The authors discuss design features to maximize language proficiency and intercultural competence. Grounded in up-to-date research and theory, the book responds to the challenges associated with long-term education abroad programs and provides recommendations on (re)invigorating long-term programs and diversifying participation in education abroad. From Study Abroad to Education Abroad is vital reading for academics, researchers, and students in the fields of language education and education policy, as well as practitioners, such as language program coordinators and education abroad administrators.

A central purpose of this book is to question the claims commonly made about the educational benefits of study abroad. Traditional metrics of enrollment increases and student self-report, and practices of structural immersion, are being questioned as educators voice growing uncertainty about what students are or are not in fact learning abroad. This book looks into whether these criticisms are justified—and what can be done if they are.The contributors to this book offer a counter-narrative to common views that learning takes place simply through students studying elsewhere, or through their enrolling in programs that take steps structurally to “immerse” them in the experience abroad.Student Learning Abroad reviews the dominant paradigms of study abroad; marshals rigorous research findings, with emphasis on recent studies that offer convincing evidence about what undergraduates are or are not learning; brings to bear the latest knowledge about human learning and development that raises questions about the very foundations of current theory and practice; and presents six examples of study abroad courses or programs whose interventions apply this knowledge. This book provokes readers to reconsider long-held assumptions, beliefs and practices about teaching and learning in study abroad and to reexamine the design and delivery of their programs. In doing so, it provides a new foundation for responding to the question that may faculty and staff are now asking: What do I need to know, and what do I need to be able to do, to help my students learn and develop more effectively abroad? Contributors:Laura BathurstMilton BennettGabriele Weber BosleyJohn EngleLilli Engle Tara HarveyMitchell HammerDavid KolbBruce La Brack Kris Hemming LouKate McClearyCatherine MenyhartR. Michael PaigeAngela PassarelliAdriana Medina-López PortilloMeghan QuinnJennifer Meta RobinsonRiikka SalonenVictor SavickiDouglas StuartMichael Vande BergJames ZullWhile the authors who have contributed to Student Learning Abroad are all known for their work in advancing the field of education abroad, a number have recently been honored by leading international education associations. Bruce La Brack received NAFSA’s 2012 Teaching, Learning and Scholarship Award for Innovative Research and Scholarship. Michael Paige (2007) and Michael Vande Berg (2012) are recipients of the Forum on Education Abroad’s Peter A. Wollitzer Award.

This book addresses the multilingual reality of study abroad across a variety of national contexts and target languages. The chapters examine multilingual socialization and translanguaging; how the target language is entwined in global, local and historical contexts; and how students use local and global varieties of English.

With the increased interest in study abroad from government, educators, employers and students, the question is: is study abroad engendering the desired intercultural competencies and intellectual development?To achieve this goal, this book proposes two strategies: structure study abroad to bridge the separation of academic learning from experiential and intercultural learning; and integrate study abroad with the undergraduate curriculum.In proposing this integration, the editors take into account the need for institutional change, and recognize faculty members’ concerns about maintaining the integrity of the curriculum, teaching in areas outside their expertise, and keeping up with ever-evolving institutional missions.This book opens with two chapters presenting different theoretical perspectives relevant to the integration of study abroad into the curriculum. The following nine chapters provide examples from a variety of disciplines – from anthropology and religious studies, to literature, urban studies, biology and public health – and within such contexts as distance learning, service learning, and the senior thesis. The concluding chapter considers faculty development activities and institutional structures and policies that support curriculum integration. While the examples are drawn from Beloit College and Kalamazoo College – liberal arts colleges with substantial study abroad enrollments, and nationally recognized for their innovative practices – readers will recognize they are easily adaptable to their own institutions. The two colleges achieved their curricular innovations with limited financial resources, and in the context that most of their students are dependent on financial aid. The transformational ideas and practices described here provide material for reflection and campus conversations for anyone concerned with developing global citizens and well-educated students, and offer a blueprint for implementation.

This book is based on the premise that student sojourners and educators can benefit from a deeper understanding of the language, identity, and cultural factors that impact on the development of intercultural communicative competence and intercultural personhood.

This book examines how the unique perspectives of BIPOC faculty and students must be integrated into the undergraduate curriculum to expose students of color to education abroad experiences, enhance cultural awareness and sensitivity, and lend to a broader diversity and inclusion perspective. This edited volume, written by authors of color, argues that education abroad programs not only provide essential academic and cultural enrichment but can also be an important nexus of innovation. When approached within a creative, interdisciplinary, and holistic framework, these programs are ripe with opportunities to engage various constituencies and a potent source of strategies for bolstering diversity, recruitment, retention, and graduation. Despite a tendency to view study abroad as a luxurious option for persons with wealth and means, the editors and their authors argue that global education should be thought of as a fundamental and integral part of higher education, for all students, in a global era.