Language matters: Understanding international education discourses at U.S. community colleges

• In Event: Examining International Educators’ and Faculties’ Narratives and Roles

Proposal

Introduction
Study abroad is increasingly a key component of undergraduate education at higher education institutions in the United States. According to the most recent Open Doors report, over 280,000 students earned academic credit for study abroad in the 2022-23 academic year (IIE, 2025). Klim (2020) finds that Associate’s institutions, or community colleges, are among the fastest growing regarding the establishment of study abroad programs. According to a recent report, 350 U.S. community colleges offer study abroad programs, amounting to approximately 38% of all community colleges (Whatley, 2025).

The opportunity to study abroad is certainly a net positive for community college students. Recent research has found that those who study abroad have an increased likelihood of both credential completion and transfer to a four-year institution (e.g., Gwillim, 2023; Whatley & González Canché, 2022), are more likely to have developed social capital (e.g., Fischer & Raby, 2023), and gain career and personal relevance from their experiences (e.g., Wood & Raby, 2022). However, researchers have cautioned that study abroad programs, particularly with reference to how they are advertised and described to students, can have unintended consequences for student learning. Zemach-Bersin (2009) cautions that the way study abroad is portrayed in program advertisements can promote a sense of entitlement, consumerism, and individualism among participants, while Ficarra (2017) examines hidden messages about parts of the world that are communicated to students as part of study abroad program descriptions, which the author refers to as the ‘hidden curriculum.’

Framework
Building off this research, the current study examines study abroad websites in the community college context. We approached this work through a critical internationalization lens. Rooted in both critical and decolonial traditions (Stein, 2019), critical internationalization is guided by several key principles - notably addressing the reproduction of uneven and exploitative global power relations, the endurance of Euro-North American epistemologies, and a commitment to recognizing the complicities and complexities inherent to international education (Critical Internationalization Studies Network, n.d.).
Methodologically, this study employs a Foucauldian critical discourse analysis (CDA). Through this CDA, we sought to identify the purpose, intended audience, tone, language style, and types of media utilized across each study abroad program website. An analysis of these elements helped us to identify how study abroad is being positioned, how access and equity is being framed, and which power dynamics and ideologies are being reinforced through these study abroad websites.

Methods
Using the recently published Community College International Education Research Initiative dataset (Nyarko et al., 2025), we identified 137 community colleges that offer study abroad programs as their primary form of international engagement. Using the institutional website search feature, we identified the study abroad landing page for each institution for analysis. To ensure the selected pages reflected each institution’s primary and most relevant messaging, we excluded institutions that did not have a dedicated landing page for study abroad information, websites with noticeably outdated information, or institutions where the only indication of a study abroad program was in a news article or press release.

All websites were accessed and saved as PDFs between June 26th and June 27th, 2025. These PDFs were then imported into Dedoose, a collaborative qualitative data analysis software. The research team developed a shared codebook based on key elements of critical internationalization, CDA, and prior literature. After jointly conducting inductive coding of an initial subset of websites to ensure intercoder reliability and to refine the codebook, the remaining webpages were divided among the four members of the research team to be coded.

Preliminary Results
Initial analysis of the study abroad websites shows discursive patterns that position study abroad as both a transformative educational adventure and a marketable life experience. Across institutions, the language used reflects a blend of aspirational narratives, consumer-oriented appeals, and accessibility. While some websites signal institutional commitments to equity and access, some language and imagery also reproduce tensions between economic imperatives and equity-oriented narratives seen in international education.

Benefit Discourses
Benefit-oriented narratives appear frequently across institutional websites. Academic benefits are emphasized as transferable credits, satisfying graduation requirements, skill-building, and an enriched knowledge base in students’ area of study. Career benefit narratives frame study abroad as an experience that gives students a competitive advantage in globalized labor markets. Several personal benefits, such as gaining an enhanced perspective of the world and developing a deeper awareness of themselves, are also present.

Consumer Discourses
The websites analyzed utilize a variety of discourses that position study abroad as a consumer product and effectively market it as a valuable purchase for students. These discourses emphasize return on investment (as explored through the benefit discourses above), once-in-a-lifetime experiences, variety of product selection, and direct advertising strategies (e.g. using calls to actions such as “apply today!” or “reserve your spot now!”).

Access Discourses
Community college websites also emphasize the accessibility of study abroad programs through narratives of affordability, inclusivity, flexibility, and guidance. Recognizing that cost is a major barrier for students to participate in study abroad, websites frequently underscore the relative affordability of community college programs and promote financial aid, scholarships, payment plans, and community fundraising. Many community colleges underscore their commitment to inclusivity by explicitly welcoming non-traditional students, first-generation college students, minority students, lifelong learners, and first-time travelers. Structural flexibility - with trips of varying length offered at different times of the year - is presented as another mechanism of access by allowing students to select opportunities that fit their academic schedules and personal commitments. Websites also detail the support provided by study abroad coordinators, financial aid advisors and counselors as a means to reduce any anxieties as the student prepares to travel.

Conclusion
Taken together, these discourses portray study abroad as beneficial, valuable, and accessible to community college students. We notice, however, that beneath these aspirational narratives, there are subtle tensions. The images selected, the destinations highlighted, the lifestyles portrayed, and the discourses both present and missing, indicate a hidden curriculum, implicitly suggesting who truly “belongs” in study abroad, reinforcing consumerist, neoliberal, and colonial logics, and highlighting which forms of global engagement are most valued.

Authors

• Lindsey Kline, Alamo Colleges District

• Shaimaa Ibrahim, William & Mary School of Education

• Kylie Parks, Chapman University

• Melissa Whatley, William and Mary