Although several studies highlight the benefit of short-term immersion programs abroad among social work students, few studies have examined their transformative nature. In response, this study aimed to describe the transformative change experienced by MSW students from the Southwest USA who participated in a short-term, immersion program in…

The popular image of the international student in the American imagination is one of affluence, access, and privilege, but is that image accurate? In this provocative book, higher education scholar Stephanie Kim challenges this view, arguing that universities -- not the students -- create the paths that allow students their international mobility.…

We report on a survey study of a group of U.S. students studying abroad in 22 different countries in the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022 (N = 261), as universities around the world began returning to in-person instruction but where a good deal of instruction was still conducted online or in some hybrid modality and where a range of COVID-19…

Study abroad (SA) provides a space and place for second language (L2) learners to be challenged in terms of their target language skills and intercultural awareness. In order to appropriately equip learners, a task-based approach seems ideal to identify learners' specific needs (Long 2015). The present study reports a multiphase needs analysis…

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore evidence of transformation as perceived by African American undergraduate students who participated in and persisted through community college study abroad programs in Ghana. Critical pedagogy, transformative learning, African ontology, and intercultural communication theoretical paradigms…

Higher education institutions position education abroad as an effective way to engage students internationally and develop critical intercultural competency skills. Education abroad also represents a major portion of campus internationalization at higher education institutions, globally. An ever-increasing understanding of how students engage in…

This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of eight undocumented students who successfully studied abroad between 2012 and 2016. In-depth interviews of students at a public research university in California articulate the determination, resourcefulness, and unspoken fears that undocumented students carried with them throughout the…

The onset of COVID-19 has prompted world language professionals to reconceptualize best practices in second language (L2) teaching and research during a time of limited interaction due to social distancing across the globe (Morris, 2022). Not surprisingly, study abroad programs that once fostered communicative and intercultural development were…

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought changes to the landscape of education abroad. This paper reviews some of the operational gaps exposed by the pandemic circumstances and then advocates for enhanced notions of communication, collaboration, and community needed to embrace change and close prior gaps. The paper concludes that developing a nuanced…

Background: Understanding how students conceptualize culturally responsive service learning (CRSL) before and after an experiential education (EE) program has the potential to inform the instructional and theoretical designs and long-term possibilities of EE programs in teacher education. Purpose: To (a) explore students' early-trip conceptions of…

This study examined factors affecting international students' willingness to communicate (WTC) in English as a second language (ESL), focusing on second language (L2) self-confidence, acculturation, and motivational types. L2 self-confidence was hypothesized to predict L2 WTC and to mediate the correlation between acculturation and L2 WTC for…

Educational approaches that enable students to actively and directly participate in "real-world" projects are increasingly recognized as valuable pedagogical tools and, as such, being incorporated into university curriculums worldwide. Though not traditionally associated with political science courses, project-based international service…

This research explores institutional practices supporting undocumented student participation in U.S. education abroad at a California public research university. This institution successfully enrolled more than 40 undocumented students studying abroad between 2013 and 2016. Four university staff members, an immigration attorney, and eight…

Language-related Study Abroad (SA) experiences can be catalysts for learner transformation in the areas of cognition, socialization, and/or affect by virtue of the location and experience. An Open Architecture Curriculum Design (OACD) framework can support, promote, and enhance such transformation, as evidenced in eight programs for young adults,…

This article learns from student voices about how their education abroad experiences were shaped by their agency. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 22 U.S. community college and university students and with U.S. faculty and U.K. senior staff who worked at a Study Abroad Center in London. The study focuses on what the students said…