Best Practices in Designing and Assessing Teacher Education Study Abroad Programs: A Review of Literature

• In Event: Impactful Practices for Internationalizing Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
This paper presents a review of the literature surrounding teacher education study abroad programs, seeking to extrapolate best practices in instruction, curriculum, assessment and design of programs that influence pre-service teachers’ culturally responsive teaching practice.

Theoretical Framework
Teacher education study abroad programs are proposed as powerful vehicles towards the development of culturally responsive practices. In the past ten years there has been a growing body of research on the impact of teacher education study abroad programs and the pedagogical design of such programs. Researchers focus on the specific design of these programs, particularly the nature of the immersion experiences, and how pre-service teachers’ transfer intercultural learning from an international experience to domestic, cross-cultural educational contexts (Mahon & Cushner, 2007; Marx & Moss, 2011; Marx & Moss, 2015). Underpinning this work is the notion that living and working (teaching) in a foreign culture serves as a catalyst to transform pre-service teachers’ ethnocentric worldviews and begin them on a path towards culturally responsive teaching (Cushner & Brennan, 2007).

Data Sources
Criteria for selection of research studies included the following: published in the past ten years; U.S. university based, undergraduate study abroad program; credit-bearing study abroad program of at least two weeks in length; study abroad program specifically designed for teacher education students; use of qualitative or quantitative methodology with a discussion of findings; findings published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Fifty research studies that meet these criteria were included for review. Upon an initial review of the research studies, where the studies were organized by program type, length, and methodology used, researchers coded both the research questions and findings. The three researchers reviewed coding categories, combining and bifurcating categories as needed. A focus of the codes was to illuminate the programmatic design practices found to be impactful. From this reiterative practice, a clear review of the existing literature was developed.

Results
This review of literature confirms the power of international experiences and purposeful programmatic design elements on pre-service teachers’ intercultural development (Marx & Moss, 2011, 2015; Marx, 2016). The research studies conclusively show that intentionally designed experiences, coupled with the strategies that support students’ critical self-reflection are needed to ensure that pre-service teachers engage in critical cultural learning, where they make sense of the cultural context they are finding themselves in and learn to think ethnographically as they encounter difference.

Scholarly Significance
There has not been a strategic review of the literature nor an effort to clearly articulate best practices within the field. While general best practices for study abroad programs do exist (Forum on Study Abroad, 2015), the unique nature of the school-based internship within teacher education programs and the professionally specific articulation of culturally responsive teaching necessitate as a more detailed set of best practices for this type of program. The articulation of best practices through this review of literature supports the pedagogical design and assessment of current and future programs, and influences future research on areas that have not been extensively studied.

Authors

• Helen Marx, Southern Connecticut State University

• David M. Moss, University of Connecticut

• Blair Izard, University of Connecticut - Storrs