Language and culture immersion programs: a comparative case study

• In Event: Conflicting perspectives on ideas of educational imperatives in the national and global contexts: Case studies in the West and Israel

Abstract

The paper is based on a study of the organization and operation of two language and culture immersion programs: academic program Duke/Rutgers in Berlin and non-academic Travel/Study Program for Adults in Germany and Switzerland. Both programs are designed for English-speaking participants with different levels of knowledge of German and heterogeneous cross-cultural experience. While being different in organization and target groups, both programs focus on the balance between the development of language competences in an immersive environment and the cultural enrichment of the participants. The author of the paper has served as the Co-Director in the former and the Curricular Director and Instructor in the latter.

The general theoretical framework for the study is derived from both language immersion and cross-cultural training literature. Methodologically, the research presented is a comparative observational case study. The paper discusses the most important aspects of the target population (college students and non-academic adult learners) from both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives, including some observable changes of interests as well as the effects of economic changes.

The research questions of this study are:
• What is unique about each program and their participants?
• What explains the success of both programs?
• What aspects of the programs can be seen as transferable to other programs in order to warrant their success?

In order to address these research questions, the study concentrates, in particular, on the following aspects:
• Specificity of instruction in both immersive environments (relatively homogeneous short-term young adult group in the academic program and heterogeneous short-term adult instruction in the non-academic program)
• The roles of the organizers and the instructors
• Cultural sensitivity issues and cross-cultural challenges
• Heritage language / culture aspects in the program
• Maintaining the balance between language instruction and different types of cultural enrichment
• Linguistic and cultural topics introduced in the instruction process
• Practical organization of travel and study components
• Organization of communication at all stages including web presence, advertising, and recruitment process
• Logistics of the programs

The data for the analysis is derived from information artifacts (documents) created in connection with both programs (handbooks for organizers and participants, e-mails, program descriptions, websites, etc.) as well as from the content analysis of the interviews with the participants of both programs.
The questions discussed reveal many innovative aspects in running international immersive programs and will be of particular interest to educators of languages and cultures working internationally with young adults or adults and/or heterogeneous groups in immersive environments or planning an international educational program.
One of the most important outcomes of the study is the formulation of a set of practical recommendations for the organization of similar academic and non-academic programs, which address some overt challenges and hidden pitfalls in the organization of such programs in both logistical and pedagogical aspects.

The major significance of this study to the fields of both comparative and international education consists in its transferable results of the analysis and the methods to other settings with international and cross-cultural immersion, as well as practical recommendations that help create international educational initiatives.

Author

• Alexander Pichugin, Rutgers, The State University of NJ