Journal Article

Summer study abroad in Japan: Maximizing intercultural competency development through self‐guided cultural exploration and reflection tasks

Fukuda, Makiko, Nishikawa Chávez, Katsuo

2021

Overview

This study analyzes how self‐guided cultural exploration and reflection (SCER) tasks affect the development of intercultural competency (ICC) of students participating in a study abroad program. The Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) was used to measure students' ICC development before and after a 6‐week faculty‐led study abroad program in Japan. The SCER tasks encouraged students to examine Japanese history, cuisine, politics, architecture, economy, communication style, and behaviors, and gain a sophisticated understanding of the Japanese culture through the lens of unique Japanese perspectives. The results reveal significant gains in overall IES scales, in particular, student's continuous learning and interpersonal engagement saw the most change. Analysis of student reflections further demonstrates the positive impact of culturally bridging experiences on self‐awareness and cultural exploration. We argue that the impact of perspective‐shifting practices, combined with students' first‐hand intercultural experience improves student's level of hardiness. Finally, student reflections reveal the important role that the SCER tasks have on initiating a meaningful dialogue with their host families. The Challenge Due to globalization, students today need to develop intercultural skills, and study abroad is widely held as one of the most effective ways of developing competence, and more university students are attending short summer‐long programs. In this context, we ask, how can teachers design a program that maximizes student's intercultural learning in a short‐term study abroad program? Can students develop a rich and deep understanding of the culture in short‐term study abroad? This article presents unique cultural bridging experiences, self‐exploration tasks, and teacher guidance that impacted the development of student's intercultural competency.

• Publisher: Wiley,American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
• Subject: Asian history / Behavior / College faculty / Competence / Cultural Awareness / Cultural competence / Culture / Experiential Learning / Foreign Countries / Foreign students / Hardiness / Intercultural communication / Intercultural competence / intercultural competency / International Education / Interpersonal communication / Japanese / Japanese as a second language / Japanese culture / Japanese history / Learning / Lifelong Learning / Measures / Perspective Taking / Reflection / Second language learning / Self awareness / Self concept / Selfawareness / short‐term study abroad / Skill development / Skills / Student Attitudes / Students / Study Abroad / Summer Programs / Teachers