“Open Your Mind, Sharpen Your Wits”: A Narrative Approach to the Benefits of Study Abroad as Perceived by Erasmus+ Students

Arranz, José Igor Prieto; Juan-Garau, María; Mesquida-Mesquida, Francesca

doi:10.1080/15348458.2020.1871352

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Being exposed to a different culture helps the student practice how to deal with diversity and how to manage relationships with people from different backgrounds. Specifically, current research suggests that experiences abroad foster networking development (Prieto-Arranz et al, 2021 ) and engaging with diversity (Gearing et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences That Matter: Unraveling the Link Between Extracurricular Activities and Emotional and Social Competencies

et al. 2021

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Emotional and social competencies have been shown to be extremely desirable in young people for their successful entry into the labor market. Their development has been studied primarily as a result of formal training in the educational and work domains, whereas relatively little is known about the role played by extracurricular activities in promoting these types of competencies. Non-working personal experiences are often used as proxies to assess the emotional and social competencies of candidates in recruitment and selection phases. However, this inference is not based on clear scientific evidence. Drawing on experiential learning theory, this study investigated empirically the relationship between a range of extracurricular activities (volunteering, cultural activities, experience abroad, sport) and the competency portfolio of graduates. Data were collected from a sample of 324 graduates through a structured survey and a multi-rater assessment of their emotional and social competencies. The results of the Partial Least Square-Path Modeling in general provide support for the positive association between experiential extracurricular activities and emotional and social competencies, although not all relationships are supported. The present study contributes to advance in the understanding of the determinants of emotional and social competencies by examining their relationship with a broad range of extracurricular activities. Moreover, it discusses implications for higher education and human resource management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences That Matter: Unraveling the Link Between Extracurricular Activities and Emotional and Social Competencies

et al. 2021

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“…Realizing the fundamental importance of such a practical application of theoretical knowledge for training a specialist for work in the modern globalized world, RUDN University organizes internship programmes for its students with universities in Spain. These programmes give learners the opportunity not only to exercise the language they study abroad but also to gain professional knowledge as a result (Prieto-Arranz et al, 2021).…”

Section: Internship Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They tend to see familiarity with the culture and ways of life in a foreign country as a secondary task; they find it important only to the extent required for successful completion of their studies (Kamalova et al, 2021). In contrast, for students who focus on language studies while staying in the host country, cultural enrichment and understanding the context, in which a specific language functions, is an integral part of honing their expert skills, equally important for their career and professional growth (Prieto-Arranz et al, 2021).…”

Section: Internship Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of foreign language internships in cultural enrichment and increasing motivation for Russian students to learn Spanish

Veselova

Khimich

Terentieva

2021

Heliyon

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Currently, many universities use the communicative approach to foreign language teaching. In contrast, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) uses a mixed approach for these purposes, which combines both the abovementioned communicative method and the grammar-translation method, which is more traditional for Russian universities. Additionally, RUDN University provides an opportunity for students to continue learning the target language at foreign partner universities, where students can practice the language in its natural environment. In this regard, the serious research interest for us is which of our students' language competencies will transform after graduation from these universities and how their motivation changes towards learning Spanish.The vast majority of previous research on the role of foreign language internships in increasing students' motivation to learn the target language focuses on issues related to motivation to learn the language within the framework of the communicative or grammar-translation method (Helmchen, Melo-Pfeifer, 2018;Germer, 2018;Marijuan and Sanz, 2018). This study approaches the question from a different angle and concentrates on the problem of motivating students who previously studied Spanish at a university that employs the mixed method for learning the foreign language and who later completed an internship at a partner university that in turn utilizes the communicative method.To answer this research question, we aimed to conduct a study of the formed cultural and linguistic competencies of 3rd-and 4th-year students who were and who were not on foreign internships at Spanish partner universities of RUDN University. Based on the obtained data, this research demonstrates the need to change the established approaches not only to the practice of teaching Spanish but also to the conscious use of internships as a tool to increase the motivation of students to learn the target language.

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The potential of on-campus study to support students' intercultural learning and development in higher education

Lei

Wong

Knowles

2023

International Journal of Educational Research

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“Open Your Mind, Sharpen Your Wits”: A Narrative Approach to the Benefits of Study Abroad as Perceived by Erasmus+ Students

Cited by 6 publications

References 33 publications

Experiences That Matter: Unraveling the Link Between Extracurricular Activities and Emotional and Social Competencies

Experiences That Matter: Unraveling the Link Between Extracurricular Activities and Emotional and Social Competencies

The role of foreign language internships in cultural enrichment and increasing motivation for Russian students to learn Spanish

The potential of on-campus study to support students' intercultural learning and development in higher education

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