Education Commons^™

Efl Learners’ Post-Sojourn Perceptions Of The Effects Of Study Abroad, Sandra Steinwidder

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This qualitative study investigated in what ways tertiary-level English foreign language (EFL) learners believed that they had changed following their study abroad. The participants were 12 Austrian EFL learners who had been exchange students in the UK or US. I conducted a cross-sectional study, grouping participants according to the duration of their stay abroad, as well as the period of time since they had returned to their home country. Comparisions were drawn between students who spent one semester, and those who spent two. I also investigated the differences displayed depending on how long a student has been back in their …

Interdisciplinary Study Abroad As Experiential Learning, Jean Wilson, Rachel Brain, Erik Brown, Leila Gaind, Kaila Radan, Julia Redmond

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

Abstract

Although study abroad would appear to be an ideal context for the learning through doing and reflecting that constitutes experiential education, if it fails to be rigorously approached as experiential learning, it not only falls short of its potential, but also risks reinforcing rather than confounding consumerist assumptions and behaviours in education. Co-authored by five former academic exchange participants and their professor/program director (who had remained at the home university), the paper explores the need and various possibilities for programming that would pay more than lip service to the idea of international study as experiential learning. Facilitation of ongoing …