Cultural Identification, Acculturation, and Academic Experience Abroad: A Case of a Joint Faculty-Led Short-Term Study Abroad Program

Abstract

The number of students expanding their academic programs to include learning experiences abroad has been steadily increasing over the past two decades. This study investigates the cultural identification of short-term study abroad participants and its influence on their acculturation process. By means of a widely used acculturation scale, it was found that there were statistically significant effects of cultural experiences on cultural identification, specifically decreases in cultural identification scores. Implications from this study suggest a deeper understanding of students’ ethnic identifications can be helpful in developing study abroad programs that promote the goals of student awareness, cultural sensitivity, and global competence.

A Quantitative Assessment of Japanese Students’ Intercultural Competence Developed Through Study Abroad Programs

“…They found that participants' self-efficacy and cultural intelligence were higher after studying abroad than before studying abroad for monocultural individuals. As illustrated by the different results obtained by Vande Berg et al (2009) andNguyen et al (2018), if duration is a determining factor of the effectiveness of studying abroad, this topic remains controversial since some studies (e.g., Czerwionka, Artamonova, & Barnosa, 2015; Gilin & Young, 2009;Lee & Negrelli, 2018) have concluded that even short-term programs are effective while some other studies (e.g., Engle & Engle, 2004;Kehl & Morris, 2008;Medina-Lopez-Portillo, 2004) have found the opposite.…”

“…study abroad programs have on students. These components are exemplified by interculturality (Jackson, 2018), cultural resistance (Lemmons, 2015), independence and self-confidence (Walsh & Walsh, 2018), cultural competency (Hermond, Vairezm, & Tanner, 2018), awareness of cultural diversity (Wooldridge, Peet, & Meyer, 2018), intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2009;Yarosha, Lukic, & Santibáñez-Gruber, 2018), self-efficacy and cultural intelligence (Nguyen, Jefferies, & Rojas, 2018), contact with host-society (Matera, Imai, & Pinzic, 2018;Rodriguez & Chornet-Roses, 2014), cultural adjustment (Basow & Gaugler, 2017) and acculturation process (Lee & Negrelli, 2018). This study differs from these existing studies by using a different perspective to focus on the impact of study abroad programs on developing one's intercultural competence.…”

Using the BEVI to Assess Individual Experience to Enhance International Programming

“…Students from different identity groups have different experiences abroad; realization of minority status can heighten awareness of students' identity within the group and can cause further stress (Savicki & Cooley, 2011). The destination of Vietnam, a developing country vastly different from the United States, provides a contrasting perspective, which enables increased cognitive dissonance resulting in the current data (Lee & Negrelli, 2018).…”

Impact of the CAMPUS Asia initiative for developing Japanese students’ attitude toward mutual understanding: A case study of the Japan–China–Korea trilateral exchange program

“…Different researchers see different components of intercultural competence developed through study abroad programs. Such components identified in recent works include a sense of self (Harper, 2018), cultural resistance (Lemmons, 2015), independence and self-confidence (Walsh and Walsh, 2018), awareness of cultural diversity (Wooldridge et al, 2018), intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2015a; Hanada, 2019), self-efficacy and cultural intelligence (Nguyen et al, 2018), contact with the host society (Matera et al, 2018), and the acculturation process (Lee and Negrelli, 2018). Although there is no authoritative academic definition of the competence for mutual understanding universally accepted in the relevant literature, it can be understood that it includes at least three essential elements: cognitive, affective, and behavioral (Bennett, 2011: 3).…”