Full title:
Intercultural Encounters: The impact of study abroad on students’ intercultural learning, on their development of language and identity and on the curriculum
Grant recipients:
Grit Liebscher, Emma Betz, Michael Boehringer, and *Christine Kampen Robinson
Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies
*Graduate student co-applicant
(Project timeline: May 2014 - April 2015)
Project Description
This project examined the learning experiences of German and Canadian participants in study abroad sojourns as sites of deep intercultural learning. Specifically, we were interested in how students’ perceptions of and preoccupation with proficiency can be roadblocks for deep, potentially transformative learning. The study abroad programs in our department offer various opportunities to gather data for investigating these questions. Through qualitative analysis of both interviews and written reflections, we have started to examine how students participating in study abroad in Germany and in Canada view these experience and themselves as (intercultural) learners. This work has been presented at local and international conferences. The qualitative data analysis will inform the design of future pre-departure workshops, which are intended to raise students’ language and cultural awareness and challenge their immediate interests in proficiency development.
Questions Investigated
- How do students construct proficiency?
- What role does the perception of their proficiency play in their study abroad experience at various stages?
- How do students deal with liminality, i.e., their positions between cultures, when it comes to proficiency, both abroad and upon their return to their home country?
- In terms of teaching enhancement: What do students need in terms of pre-study abroad preparation and reflection during and after study abroad?
Findings and Insights
Interviews with 6 short-term German language summer school participants and 12 graduate student participants were conducted, and reflections by 6 students were collected. The qualitative analysis of the interviews has proven valuable in the discovery of identity positionings, reflections and the construction of experiences and difficulties during study abroad. As expected, students addressed language proficiency in these interviews, but they did so in a much more reflected and complex way than anticipated: the level of ability in using the language is often tied to situational, motivational and goal-oriented positioning in complex identity constructions. Also, other kinds of proficiency than traditional language proficiency are constructed as equally relevant: “proficiency” in navigating spaces and places, in making friends, in positioning oneself as local/non-local, in acquiring “symbolic competence” (Kramsch 2009) as an ability to make language-culture-links. The initial analysis doable under this Seed grant has raised important questions and re-focused our attention to the complexities of being in a study abroad situation.
Dissemination and Impact
- At the individual level: The interviews as well as the reflections that are part of the data collection process of this study has afforded students the opportunity to voice their experiences and reflect on them. The project has brought colleagues and graduate students working together, and has sparked the topic for an MA thesis currently in process.
- At the Department/School and/or Faculty/Unit levels: Discussions with departmental colleagues about the project have resulted in further specific ideas for enhancing our curricula and UW students' intercultural experience: integrating teaching units into pre-departure courses (e.g., GER 102) as well as post-study-abroad courses (e.g., GER 212).
- At the institutional (uWaterloo) level: Based on data collection and analysis from this project, Liebscher and Betz presented a research paper entitled “Discursive constructions of transformative experiences in a study abroad program” at OND 2015 in a panel on study abroad organized by Svitlana Taraban-Gordon.
- Liebscher, G., & Betz, E. (2015, April). “Discursive constructions of transformative experiences in a study abroad program.” OND (Opportunities and New Directions), Waterloo, ON, Canada.
- At the national and/or international levels: Liebscher and Betz also presented at the 2015 Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics (ACLA)/ American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) in Toronto, in March. The paper was entitled “Positioning and Repositioning Oneself as (Non-)Proficient Participant in the Study Abroad Context”. Resulting from the research on study abroad done for the LITE seed grant project, the project applicants created a panel submission on the topic of study abroad for the annual international GSA (German Studies Association) conference (to be held in October 2015 in Washington, DC). This submission was accepted. Liebscher and Betz are the organizers of the panel, which brings together 5 international researchers. After the panel, the participants will prepare their papers for publication.
- Betz, E., & Liebscher, G. (2015, March). “Positioning and Repositioning Oneself as (Non-)Proficient Speaker in the Study Abroad Context.” ACLA/AAAL 2015, Toronto, ON, Canada.
- Liebscher, G., & Betz, E. (2015, October, accepted). Panel on “Study abroad perspectives on transculturality”, organized for GSA (German Studies Association) Conference 2015, Washington, DC, USA.
References
Project reference list (PDF)