This study explores the unique experience of disrupted sojourns and early reentry among U.S. college students who were abruptly repatriated from their study abroad experience in March 2020. Using a combination of focus groups and interviews with 25 U.S. returning students, the findings suggest that students' experiences were characterized by…

Smartphones accompany international students as they adapt to different contexts during their stay abroad. In this empirical study, we examined how a group of international students (n=10) in France used their smartphones during the eight-week lockdown that imposed on everyone a stay-at-home order and allowed minimal physical contact (April and…

A relatively small body of research has been conducted on the near- and long-term effects of study abroad (SA) to date. This existing research suggests that SA effects on language skills tend to be volatile, while the impact on various aspects of learners' personal, academic, and professional development may be longer-lasting. Yet, learner…

In recent years, teacher education programs across the country have worked to increase the focus on global competency among the skills needed for a beginning teacher. For the purposes of this study, global competency is defined as, "a body of knowledge about the world regions, cultures, and global issues, and the skills and dispositions to…

In international education the conventional wisdom, supported by research, is that more contact with a host culture yields better results for study abroad students. Such exposure to a foreign culture is seen as the "raison d'etre" for study abroad: the mechanism provoking students to challenge their ethnocentric notions and move toward a…

Helping students and others facing the task of adapting to a foreign culture is becoming ever more pressing. The current study delves into sociocultural adaptation in order to clarify that process and provide information useful for educators, trainers, coaches, and others guiding those facing a sojourn in a foreign culture. A question to be…

Examines the theme of learning outside of the home society through the use of ethnography and the techniques of field study for students living and working in Mexico, Austria, and Germany. Demonstrates through the observations of students how effective the use of field research methods can be in learning about social relations, cultural…