This dissertation reports the findings of a study on how international experiences impact adolescents. Data were gathered from interviews with and writing samples from seven participants with varying international experiences. A critical perspective and existing research in New Literacy Studies (NLS), on study abroad programs, and on…

Studying abroad is one way in which university students can develop personal capital and distinguish themselves in an increasingly congested graduate labour market. Data show that studying abroad indeed provides employment benefits, with evidence pointing to even greater positive effects for students from low socio-economic status backgrounds.…

With expanding global interdependence, it is vital that 4-H youths learn more about the ever-increasing diverse cultures in their own communities as well as expand their global mindedness and understanding of globalization. The 4-H International Village (a) offers a comfortable yet engaging avenue for youths to expand their knowledge of and…

Over the last several years, the number of international students attending colleges and universities in Malaysia has increased substantially. While the number of international students pursuing undergraduate and post graduate studies in Malaysian higher education institutions has increased, it is curious that some limitations and challenges exist…

This paper gives account of a project involving Year Abroad students of French at Warwick University challenged to select "realia" from their host countries in order to stimulate enthusiasm for language learning in local schools. It considers the cognitive and affective processes informing the "culture gathering" that took…

Teachers in American study-abroad programs usually receive little, if any, training before the trip, because "teaching is teaching". The cultural differences between Chinese and American university classrooms, however, affect the students' ability to learn and the teacher's ability to teach in profound ways. Foreign teachers in China require at…

The political events of the last decade and the Arab Spring have made it more important than ever for Americans to understand the language, culture, and history of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. Study abroad is one important method that can significantly increase American students' understanding of the Arabic language and the culture…

In international education the conventional wisdom, supported by research, is that more contact with a host culture yields better results for study abroad students. Such exposure to a foreign culture is seen as the "raison d'etre" for study abroad: the mechanism provoking students to challenge their ethnocentric notions and move toward a…

People who encounter a foreign culture face many challenges in the process of adjusting and adapting to it. For those who remain in contact with that culture over time, such as study abroad students, the adjustment demands may occur on many different levels. This article focuses on the cognitive level, particularly the students' social…

Helping students and others facing the task of adapting to a foreign culture is becoming ever more pressing. The current study delves into sociocultural adaptation in order to clarify that process and provide information useful for educators, trainers, coaches, and others guiding those facing a sojourn in a foreign culture. A question to be…

International travel has significant implications on the study of architecture. This study analyzed ways in which undergraduate and graduate students benefited from the experience of international travel and study abroad. Taken from the perspective of 15 individuals who were currently or had been architecture students at the University of Miami…

A student shares experiences of her semester-long Tibetan-studies program in India, Nepal, and Tibet. Informed by both home university and program provider that by going abroad and immersing herself in a foreign culture, she would become a "global citizen," she was encouraged to "act like the locals," "be a resident,"…

A home stay is typically defined as a period of time in which a person resides with a family in a home located outside his or her country of residence. Living with a host family is frequently connected to learning a language and immersion in a foreign culture. Study abroad students often participate in home stays, but there is little academic…

The application of mobile technologies to learning has the potential to facilitate the active participation of learners in the creation and delivery of content. Mobile technologies can also provide a powerful connection between a variety of formal and informal learning contexts and can help to build a community of learners. However these versatile…

The literature about the impact of study abroad on the American college undergraduate is reviewed and an experimental program instituted at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana called the Study Service Term (SST) is discussed. The objectives of SST are to give students an immersion in a foreign culture so that they may: (1) examine and experience…