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Conventional folk wisdom insists study abroad is an inherently valuable educational experience for young people. While traditional study abroad programs were typically a semester or a full year in duration, short-term study abroad programs of only a couple weeks are now the most common type of sojourn abroad. Problematically, evidence is mounting that the so-called “immersion assumption,” the thrust of which is that being abroad leads to intercultural development, and which seems to permeate the administrative ethos of a majority of study abroad programs internationally, is a poor assumption indeed (Vande berg et al., 2012). Moreover, my review of the empirical literature on study abroad suggests to me that instrumentation used to measure intercultural development, much of which was popularized during the era when longer term study abroad was the norm, might not be as well-suited to the era of short-term study tours. Finally, very little research at the intersection of short-term study abroad, intercultural development, linguistic proficiency, and personality has been produced—particularly in the Japanese context. This study had three purposes. The first purpose was to establish evidence that short-term sojourns abroad can impact an aspect(s) of intercultural development in Japanese undergraduate students (N = 203) from two universities in western Japan. The second purpose was to explore how L2 English proficiency, speaking self-efficacy, and aspects of personality might promote or inhibit intercultural development for Japanese sojourners. The third purpose was to examine sojourner reflective journal entries and interview transcripts in order to explain the findings. To execute this study, I used an embedded correlational design in which pre-post-sojourn Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) scores and cross-sectional pre-departure predictors (TOEIC, New Vocabulary Levels Test (NVLT), self-efficacy, and Big Five personality markers) were analyzed through the application of Welch’s t-tests and multiple regressions. Qualitative data were analyzed in order to explain the quantitative findings in greater detail and to ensure sojourner experiences abroad are given voice in the study. The results of this study indicated the following. First, sojourners scored statistically significantly higher than non-sojourners on Intercultural Effectiveness Scale Global Mindset at posttest. There was no significant difference between these groups on any other Intercultural Effectiveness Scale construct at posttest. This suggests that study tours positively contribute to the development of intercultural effectiveness, particularly in terms of knowledge acquisition. Second, none of the individual differences included in this study (extraversion, agreeableness, openness, linguistic proficiency, or self-efficacy in communication) demonstrated any significant predictive association with changes in Intercultural Effectiveness Scale scores pre- to post-sojourn. Third, study tour programs that included explicit opportunity for sojourners to engage with host nationals were4 associated with statistically significant changes in Intercultural Effectiveness Scale Relationship Interest at post-sojourn. Finally, qualitative analyses provided limited explanation as to why the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale constructs of Global Mindset and Relationship Interest changed pre- to post-sojourn. While FACET scores for sojourner reflective journals were positively correlated with Intercultural Effectiveness Scale Relationship Interest at post-sojourn, the content of the journals was idiosyncratic and no discernable pattern between the content of the journals and changes in Intercultural Effectiveness Scale scores was found. Case studies of eight sojourners further exemplify the complexity of trying to establish explanation(s) for why some sojourners’ Intercultural Effectiveness Scale scores increase, decrease, or remain unchanged. Several theoretical and pedagogical implications are drawn from this study. Theoretical implications relate primarily to the capacity for study tours to contribute to Japanese government goals of developing global human resources, a degree of support for the much-maligned immersion assumption, and my findings that individual differences did not demonstrate any capacity to predict sojourner change in intercultural effectiveness pre- to post-sojourn. Three pedagogical implications of these findings first include the necessity for study abroad administrators and educators to acknowledge that immersion abroad is beneficial to sojourners only insofar as it helps them increase their knowledge about their host culture. Second, with greater pedagogic intentionality, particularly in the form of structuring study tours to include extensive opportunities for contact with host nationals, is critical if students are to grow beyond the simple knowledge domain. Finally, reflective practices are highly valuable but, as the results of this study show, Japanese sojourners are likely to need substantial scaffolding and a clear imperative to reflect within a set framework and on subject matter that transcends the superficial. / Applied Linguistics

Faculty who teach at the college level are often responsible for their own pedagogical training and development, and leading a short-term study abroad program may be one strategy for helping faculty with this development. This study explores the experiences of faculty who have led short-term study abroad programs and provides insight into how the experiences align with experiential learning models and ways that they can lead to pedagogical development. Nine faculty members were interviewed and asked questions about their teaching backgrounds, their introduction to study abroad, and their experiences related to teaching and learning while abroad. The findings show that faculty have opportunities for learning while leading programs abroad and that the learning opportunities could spur pedagogical change and improvement. To ensure that faculty learn from their experiences, they should progress through a formal experiential learning process that requires them to reflect on and conceptualize their experiences and then plan to implement changes. A model for guiding faculty through this process is proposed. Recognizing and reflecting on experiences leading programs abroad has the potential to impact faculty teaching, and a formalized experiential learning process will ensure that faculty fully realize the benefits of these experiences through improvements in their teaching.

Thousands of U.S. students travel to other countries each year to participate in study programs offered either by their home or the target country institutions. This study explores the effects that these study abroad experiences have on decisions that returning students make with regard to their future educational goals, career choices, and further foreign travel. Using the alumni database of Cultural Experiences Abroad, a student travel organization, data were gathered from 185 primarily undergraduate students who spent from two weeks to one year as participants in a study abroad program. The students were from various geographic locations in the United States and Canada, and represented over 120 U.S. academic institutions. The survey consisted of an on-line questionnaire that included topics such as interest in working in international companies, studying other cultures, and traveling abroad both prior to and following the study abroad program. All students completed their study abroad during the past five years.

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As the number of international students grows, the importance of understanding them grows also. This thesis analyzes in-depth interview data from 17 international students from 12 different countries at East Tennessee State University who discussed their experiences as international students. Findings show that they are willing to adjust to the new culture and a new educational system, but they are reluctant to assimilate further. After they obtain their education, most of them want to return to their home country with their degree to work, even though situations are often better in the United States. These students serve as cultural ambassadors, but they will not be permanent immigrants, which contradicts popular assumptions about international students who study in the United States.

This project provides research and insight towards expanding the ETSU at Rome Program into a larger multidisciplinary study abroad program. The program's goal is to evolve from its presummer session with a one-course offering curriculum into a multidisciplinary, multicourse study abroad program for both the presummer session and entire summer session. Research and analysis have been conducted to discover best practices for study abroad programs in surrounding institutions. Additionally, in expansion upon existing efforts, this research helps seek out partnerships and collaborations within the institution and outside the institution. Professors from numerous departments throughout ETSU have been interviewed regarding their position and views of study abroad programs for students within their departments. Data have also been gathered to help better understand the potential and existing funding opportunities in a study abroad program. Additionally, other opportunities for growth and expansion and the challenges associated with these have been studied.

This qualitative study examined the differences among the experiences of 7 American undergraduate students; 4 who studied for a semester in Ghana, a developing country, and 3 who studied for a semester in England, a developed country. Using phenomenology as its guiding framework, transcribed interviews were analyzed and the focal phenomenon of the experience was sought. In addition, examination of the literature suggested that study abroad in less developed countries had the potential to impact the experience of students at a deeper level because of the potential for what Jean Piaget termed constructive disequilibrium (Blake & Pope, 2008, p. 61). The data indicated that both student groups had significant experiences abroad but that each group's significant experiences were linked to the nature of their host country. In Ghana, 3 students discussed their sometimes shocking experience as a minority while 1 participant, a 1st generation African-American, discussed the confusing experience of identifying with the racial majority there, but only until she was identified as an American when she spoke. In England, students were appalled to find the English people so openly expressing racism. They encountered people who were considered liberal by American standards and found they were identified in England as conservatives by English standards; a shock of sorts. The phenomenon encompassing all these experiences was of the students discovering they were part of a particular culture and starting to understand why they had certain values and attitudes. Findings of this research merely scratch the surface of the issue at hand and other researchers are encouraged to replicate the study with a larger number of participants, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, and making sure that the shortcomings of this study in regards to validity are avoided.