Experiences of a Host Country Faculty Member During Teacher Education Study Abroad Programs

• In Event: 25.061 - Narratives of Challenges and Barriers of Intercultural Teaching

Abstract

Objectives:
This paper explores the experiences of a host country faculty member who receive US teacher education study abroad students. Using a self-study approach, it unpacks the complications that arise within the intercultural relationships between host country faculty and study abroad students.
Theoretical Framework:
Using a self-study framework, this research focused on us - the selves - and on our personal and professional development within the context of study abroad programs (Lassonde, Galman & Kosnick, 2009). The lived experience of the host country faculty is framed by an auto-ethnographical form of self-narrative that places the self within the social context (Jupp, 2006) in order to understand the cultural context.
Data Sources:
A series of email correspondences of one of the authors, a host country faculty member, are used as a data source. A content analysis approach of the first layer of data analysis was followed by a second layer of analysis using a cultural diagnosis approach (Denscomb,1998), which provided the opportunity to unpack the subtle and intricate meanings conveyed by the text.
 
Results:
The content analysis of the email data sources highlighted three main areas of concern by the host-country faculty: organizational and schedules, staffing needs, and a concern for the day to day practicalities of the program, illuminating the pressing concerns related to the social context of a study abroad program that was a constant concern of the host country faculty member. However, the deeper cultural analysis of the content of the emails, particularly an analysis of what is alluded to but not directly addressed – the meaning between the lines – revealed a constant focus on the cultural context of the study abroad program. Most interestingly, the experiential cycle of planning, experiencing, reflecting by the host country faculty was overlaid with a cycle of emotions of anticipation, anxiety, confusion, frustration, sense of being overwhelmed, relief, reflection, and hope. Within these cycles was a constant consideration on the part of the host country faculty of the intercultural needs of both the study abroad program participants and the home country participants, and the consistent need to mediate these.
Scholarly Significance:
Much research on study abroad has focused on the experiences of the students engaged in study abroad. While this focus can be explained by the need for home country faculty to understand the learning needs of participants, it fails to consider the perspectives of the host country faculty, ironically the very people tasked with engaging the participants in intercultural growth during these programs. The study suggests that more research should consider the experiences of host country faculty, with a focus on the knowledge and skills needed by host country faculty to support intercultural growth of both the study abroad participants and the host country faculty, school personnel, and school students who interact with participants.

Authors

• Helen Marx, Southern Connecticut State University

• Julie Uí Choistealbha, Marino Institute of Education