Study abroad is an increasingly popular component of higher education, thought to promote global citizenship ideals, including the cultural and linguistic competence needed to succeed in a globalized world. While much research has focused on student learning outcomes, scholars have discovered that simply living and studying abroad is not a…

This study examines what factors contribute to intercultural learning during the study abroad experience, drawing on Mezirow's theory of transformative learning and data from the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Using data from 1,858 US students studying abroad in 27 countries over 6 years (2014-2020), this study constitutes the largest…

Although there have been many studies investigating international students, many of them focused on the students who travel in pursuit of higher education in English countries and/or universities. This current qualitative study is intended to explore the experiences of international students, particularly the challenges, and strategies to deal…

This study describes how length of stay in a foreign country influenced personal adjustment, language acquisition, and culture learning among a convenience sample of 150 United States student volunteers participating in a short-term cross-cultural living/learning situation in Mexico. Short-term was defined as two, four; six, eight, or ten weeks.…

A Meta-Cultural way of thinking about communication, understanding, and competence means not just understanding and appreciating a few other cultures, but rather being able to function competently in any cultural setting in which you find yourself. In the Meta-Cultural mindset, therefore, all cultures have value, we are sensitive to cultural…

The purpose of this study is to explore the employment opportunities and challenges facing Lao graduates who studied abroad in China and returned home after graduation. A qualitative method was employed by utilizing semi-structured interviews with 17 Chinese-educated Lao graduates who now live in Laos. The findings revealed that although returning…

While study abroad homestays are often credited with providing opportunities for language and cultural learning, at times they can be characterized by communicative, cross-cultural, or interpersonal discord. In documenting these conflicts and their consequences, research to date has relied largely on students' self-reports, often focusing on their…

Teaching in international schools is challenging for teachers and professional school staff due to language barriers, cultural shocks, teaching and learning expectations, support and even living standards. As a result, international schools often organise recruitment fairs to recruit professionals and prevent them from frequent departures. Such…

In an increasing globally diverse society, international students enroll in American colleges and universities in unprecedented numbers. International students encounter lots of challenges as they adjust to student life in U.S. colleges and universities. While previous research has addressed these challenges with some student groups, limited…

This paper considers the impact of global and national political polarisation on perspectives of instructors and learners in Arabic classrooms at Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) in the United States with particular interest in understanding cultural conflicts that occur between instructors and learners. Instructors and…

The adjustment process and issues of 16 Arab international students enrolled at two universities in the Northeast of the United States were examined through this qualitative, exploratory study. The participants were from Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and United Arab Emirates and had been in the US for 2 to 5 years. In-depth…

The development of intercultural competence and foreign language skills in study abroad and the foreign language (FL) classroom is often seen as an either/or proposition due to lack of time, training or the availability of materials in the target language. The Critical Incident method (CI) provides an example of an intercultural training tool that…

Inherently concerned with the personal and cultural development of individuals, intercultural competence can be regarded as an inseparable aspect of "Bildung". However, while scholars have acknowledged the affiliation between these two concepts, what remains to be investigated is the extent to which notions of "Bildung" are…

"Cultural competence" is more than a buzzword; it is a best practice for transition educators who work with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in special education. Developing cultural competence is easier said than done, and many educators don't know where to start. Knowing the history and definitions of cultural…

This paper aims to investigate the use of connotations of inanimate objects to describe people by speakers of Jordanian Arabic. Its main goal is to analyze the positive and negative connotative meanings of inanimate object used to describe people in Jordan. Besides, the contribution of gender in making connotative meanings. The study provides a…