Living and Studying Abroad

Research and Practice

Edited by Prof. Michael Byram, Dr. Anwei Feng

Publication date:

18 August 2006

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781853599118

The internationalisation of higher education has led to study abroad being a large scale phenomenon. Students spend short periods on study tours or a year or more taking courses in foreign universities. Studying aboard cannot be dissociated however from learning to live in another country and culture. The need to adapt to a new education system is obvious but the inevitable difficulties of living in another culture for the purpose of study are also an important facet of the whole experience. Chapters in this book report research into this whole phenomenon. Authors have researched students travelling across the world, from East to West and West to East, and also the effects of studying in countries which seem to be more like students’ own. Each chapter explains the case in question, the findings from the research and what the implications might be. The second part of each chapter is then a critical reflection on the research methods used. The book thus provides a guide to the complexity of this kind of research and how that complexity can be handled with appropriate techniques and methods.

Foreword by Robert Crawshaw
1. Introduction - Michael Byram and Anwei Feng
Sojourns Far
2. Japanese Students in England – Mari Ayano
3. Irish Students in Japan - Aileen Pearson-Evans
4. The One Less Travelled by …. : The Experience of Chinese Students in a UK University – Christine Burnett and John Gardner
Sojourns Near
5. Reciprocal Adjustment by Host and Sojourning Groups: Mainland Chinese Students in Hong Kong - Carol Lam
6. Study Abroad and Experiences of Cultural Distance and Proximity: French Erasmus Students - Vassiliki Papatsiba
Short-Term Sojourns
7. Ethnographic Pedagogy and Evaluation in Short-term Study Abroad: Study Abroad and Experiences of Cultural Distance and Proximity – Jane Jackson
8. Student Perspectives in Short-term Study Programmes Abroad: A Grounded Theory Study - Gertrud Tarp
Lasting Effects on Sojourners
9. The Assistant Experience in Retrospect: An Interview Study Examining its Educational and Professional Significance in Teachers' Biographies - Susanne Ehrenreich
10. British Students in France: Ten Years On - Geof Alred and Mike Byram
Evaluating the Impact Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Internationalization - Darla Deardorff
References

This volume offers a refreshing read not only to research regarding studying and living abroad but also to research in general. This volume serves as an invaluable tool for developing a strong research design in studying cultural interaction and its implication for study abroad.