Comparing students’ study abroad experiences and outcomes across global contexts

In this study, we explored the influence of international destinations on student experiences and learning outcomes in study abroad by comparing outcomes across international tracks within a common global program. All students take the same semester-long course then travel on one of seven international tracks to different countries. Our study treated each international track as a case and used a mixed-methods approach to analyze students’ journals kept while studying abroad to compare the experiences and learning outcomes of students across cases. This analysis revealed that although the cultural distance between the United States and the host culture appears to influence students’ experiences, several other factors such as the presence of a foreign language and visible historical environment are also important to consider. These results provide insight for designers of global programs regarding the implications of choosing different international destinations as the focus of their programs.     

Teachers’ self-efficacy and intercultural classroom practices in diverse classroom contexts: A cross-national comparison

This cross-national study provides new insights in teacher efficacy in today’s culturally diverse classrooms using survey data of 269 early childhood and primary school teachers in England, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Teacher efficacy can be viewed as a two dimensional concept in which both general beliefs are measured alongside (diversity-related) domain-specific beliefs. These beliefs are related to the cultural classroom context and the use of intercultural classroom practices. Our results indicate that policies and professional development targeted at the reciprocal relation between diversity-related efficacy and practices are important when preparing teachers for working in diverse classroom contexts.     

Same or different? The “cultural entrepreneurship” and “arts entrepreneurship” constructs in European and US higher education

“Arts entrepreneurship” is beginning to emerge from its infancy as a field of study in US higher education institutions. “Cultural Entrepreneurship”, especially as conceived of in European contexts, developed earlier and on a somewhat different but parallel track. As Kuhlke, Schramme, and Kooyman [(2015). Introduction. Creating cultural capital: Cultural entrepreneurship in theory, pedagogy and practice. Delft: Eburon] note, “In Europe, courses began to emerge in the late 1980s and early 1990s?…?primarily providing an established business school education with an industry-specific focus on the new and emerging creative economy.” Conversely, the development of “arts entrepreneurship” courses and programmes in the US have been driven as much or more from interest within arts disciplines or even from within the career services units of arts conservatories as a means toward supporting artist self-sufficiency and career self-management. This paper looks at the conceptual development of “arts entrepreneurship” in the US as differentiated from “cultural entrepreneurship” in Europe and elsewhere. Its intention is to uncover where the two strands of education (and research) are the same, and where they are different. In addition to a review of existing literature on European cultural entrepreneurship, US data is drawn from a new survey and inventory of US arts entrepreneurship programmes developed for the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru).     

Broadening the mind: Beneficial effects of sojourn experiences and contact with visiting international students on prospective teachers’ motivation to avoid prejudiced behavior

Opportunities for intergroup contact are particularly important for prospective teachers because they bear responsibility for an ethnically diverse student population. Using data from a sample of 330 students inscribed in Austrian university colleges of teacher education, we investigated the long-term effects of international student exchange on prospective teachers’ motivation to avoid prejudiced behavior (MAPB). Both sojourning and domestic students’ friendships with visiting international students (VIS) were evaluated as potential instances of naturally occurring intergroup contact that can affect students’ MAPB. Sojourning students had an increased MAPB even nine months after returning to their home country. No effect was found for domestic students’ friendships with VIS. Possibly, the quality of these friendships was insufficient to result in long-term prejudice reduction. Implications of these results are discussed, and the need to advance interventions that are appropriate to improve domestic students’ contact with VIS is ascertained.     

Negative experiences and out-group trust: The formation of natives’ trust toward immigrants

The steady flow of immigrants from all over the world challenges the social cohesion of states in a variety of ways. Against this backdrop, we extend previous research on attitudes toward immigrants by evaluating the formation of trust toward this group. Using a representative sample of the Swiss population, our results indicate that the violation of trust by negative experiences in the workplace is associated with lower levels of trust toward immigrants accordingly. However, we show that the relationship between negative experiences and trust toward immigrants is more powerful among those individuals who place high levels of trust in their own national group than for individuals who do not even trust their fellow group members.     

The nexus of war,resettlement, and education: War-affected youth’s perspectives and responses to the Quebec education system

This article examines the realities of war-affected youth living in Quebec, Canada, and in particular, their experiences and responses to education upon resettlement. In our qualitative study, using both in-depth interviews and focus groups, we queried 22 young people affected by war. Our thematic analysis describes the challenges youth faced in school after having experienced war-related trauma and migration. Despite existing international and national education frameworks, education policies and provisions are largely lacking and ill-equipped to support refugees’ unique needs. Youth felt that teachers and support staff tended to overlook young people’s pre-migratory lives, as well as post-migratory realities. To facilitate resettlement, war-affected refugee youth sought connections beyond school – in the form of peers, surrogate families, or community members from the same country of origin. These non-formal educational supports demonstrate youth’s agency, illustrating high bonding social capital. To support youth at the nexus of war, resettlement, and education, our findings point to the need for greater consideration of both pre-and post-migratory experiences, as well as for increased bridging and social capital to strengthen the linkages across student-school-community in ways that both build upon and respond to the strengths and challenges of war-affected children.     

Language and intercultural peer interactions: Vietnamese students in Taiwan’s bilingual academic settings

This study examines Vietnamese students’ experiences of language choice practices in intercultural interactions with their local Taiwanese peers. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with students from five different Taiwanese universities where both English and Mandarin Chinese are used as mediums of instruction and communication. Findings suggest that the students frequently used English as a language of neutrality to communicate with local students, which either connected them with or disconnected them from their peers. They, whereas, considered Mandarin as a language of convergence, which helped them to get closer to their Taiwanese friends. They also occasionally made use of Vietnamese—a language of divergence—to a small extent to connect with their local peers. As international students seem to be the ones who often put more effort into addressing the linguistic and cultural gaps and improving the communication effectiveness compared with their local counterparts, it is recommended that local students should play a more proactive role in using proper accommodation strategies to connect with international students. Internationalised universities should also contribute to building a healthy and inclusive intercultural environment for international and local students and facilitating respectful and effective intercultural interactions among them.     

Chinese university students’ mediated contact and global competence: Moderation of direct contact and mediation of intergroup anxiety

In recent years, popularity of social media and influx of international students have provided Chinese domestic students ample opportunities to contact with alien cultures both directly and indirectly. To understand impact of the new environment, the present study focused on Chinese domestic undergraduates and proposed a moderated mediation research model examining the relationships between mediated contact (through foreign TV series and movies) and the three dimensions of global competence (global attitudes, skills, and knowledge). We also explored mediation of intergroup anxiety and moderation of direct contact (with international students) underlying these relationships. Results from a multi-group structural equation modeling analysis revealed direct contact as a moderator, modifying the relationship between mediated contact and intergroup anxiety. Specifically, this negative relationship was significant at low, rather than at high levels of direct contact. Further, at low, rather than at high levels of direct contact, mediated contact had indirect relationships with all three dimensions of global competence via the mediator of intergroup anxiety.     

English Proficiency,Identity, Anxiety,and Intergroup Attitudes: US Americans’ Perceptions of Chinese

Guided by the Common Ingroup Identity Model and Berry’s acculturation framework, this study examined the roles that perceptions of language proficiency, cultural identity, and communication anxiety had on intergroup attitudes and stereotypes in the American–Chinese contact context. Serial mediation analyses with 10,000 bootstrap samples revealed that perceived English proficiency of a Chinese contact had significant indirect effects on affective and behavioral attitudes toward Chinese through American participants’ perceptions of their contact’s host and home culture identification and communication anxiety. Perceived English proficiency had an indirect effect only on positive stereotypes through the Chinese contact’s perceived identification with home culture.     

Staying connected: Effects of social connectedness,cultural intelligence,and socioeconomic status on overseas students’ life satisfaction

This study investigated the relationship between social connectedness and overseas life satisfaction in addition to the mediating effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) and the moderating effect of socioeconomic status (SES) respectively. We adopted the social capital theory to support the relations among the proposed variables. Data were collected through online questionnaires from Taiwanese students studying abroad; 431 valid responses were analyzed. The results demonstrated that social connectedness was positively related to CQ; moreover, CQ was positively related to students’ overseas life satisfaction, and partially mediated the relationship between social connectedness and overseas life satisfaction. Concurrently, SES was observed to moderate the relationships of social connectedness with CQ and CQ with overseas life satisfaction. Furthermore, the indirect effect of social connectedness on overseas life satisfaction through CQ was moderated by varying SES levels. Our findings confirm that social connectedness affects CQ, and that CQ serves as the mediation mechanism between social connectedness and life satisfaction among overseas students. In addition, SES plays a significant role in the moderated mediation relationship. Limitations of this study and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.     

It’s (Not) in His Kiss: Gay Kisses and Camera Angles in Contemporary US Network Television Comedy

Although the number of gay male representations on American situation comedies has increased, an examination of the ways same-sex intimacy operates within sitcoms is of paramount importance. This article traces a brief history of same-sex intimacy in sitcoms, then uses film and television stylistic analysis of the contemporary sitcoms Modern Family, Happy Endings, and The New Normal to argue that the positioning of the camera and the spatial relationship between actors is deliberate and conveys critical information. The article argues that sitcoms in the 21st century obscure same-sex kisses through camera angles, particularly the over-the-shoulder shot, and that the public/private dichotomy factors prominently into the spaces where same-sex intimacy is permissible and how such intimacy is filmed within the televisual home. Ultimately, gay representation in American network television comedy retains a conservative approach to same-sex intimacy even as it continues to include gay male characters in greater numbers.     

College Students’ Perspectives in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Malaysia,Singapore, England,and the US: Formative Evaluation Insights and Implications

The purpose of this study was to elicit college students’ knowledge and perceptions about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), attitudes and practices regarding condom use, and information about what educational and prevention materials that they think would be most effective for their peers. As part of a larger study, data was collected using focus groups and questionnaires. While American and Malaysian college students in the US participated in the focus groups, the open-ended questionnaire was emailed to college students recruited in Malaysia, Singapore, and England. Participatory communication was used as the theoretical framework to generate information and message concepts necessary for the design of effective health education and promotion materials. This study revealed that college students, regardless of nationality, should be informed and educated of the STIs problem on a gradual basis through various means and communication channels.     

Making American Friends: The Effects of Musical Tastes and English Proficiency on Chinese International Students’ Social Networks in the United States

This study investigated the relationship between Chinese international students’ social networks in the United States and their musical tastes. Based on concept of homophily, this study used a self-reported Social Network Analysis (SNA) survey to examine whether sharing similar musical tastes affected Chinese international students’ relationship, their musical tastes, and music consumption. The results showed that having high musical taste similarity predicted closer relationship between respondents and their alters, and higher likelihood of new music consumption. This study also found that frequent American English-language songs listeners were more likely to have Americans in their social network than less-frequent American English-language songs listeners.     

Using systemic functional linguistics as method in identifying semogenic strategies in intercultural communication: A study of the collocation of “time” and “different” by Swedish managers with international management experiences

Theoretical foundations to intercultural communication (ICC) are integrative and interdisciplinary but few have studied ICC from a systemic linguistics perspective. Viewing communication as a dialogic process, this study takes a systemic functional linguistics (SFL) view of language as a social semiotic where semogenesis (meaning making) is both construed and construed by context of situation which in turn is construed by culture. Using interview data collected from Swedish managers who have extensive international management experiences, this study aims to illustrate how SFL can be used as an adaptive theory and framework of discourse analysis in uncovering semogenic strategies in ICC processes.     

Re-examining public opinion preferences for migrant categorizations: “Refugees” are evaluated more negatively than “migrants” and “foreigners” related to participants’ direct,extended, and mass-mediated intergroup contact experiences

Although migrant categorizations (e.g. “migrants”, “refugees”) are often conflated in political and academic discourse, they may be ascribed to different people and inspire different preferences in public opinion. Previous research in Western Europe has identified more positive attitudes toward “refugees” than toward “migrants” due to the legitimate need for international protection of “real refugees” compared to the perceived illegitimate claims by “economic migrants”. However, little evidence suggests that the same preference also exists in Eastern European countries that have historically received smaller numbers of refugees and had fewer frequent experiences with migrants and foreigners compared to West European countries. Moreover, the term “refugee” was intensively recategorized as “bogus” and de-legitimized in East European political discourse. To provide new evidence, we conducted a pre-registered comparative survey-based study with a sample of young Slovak adults (N = 873) to compare evaluations of three commonly used migrant categorizations in Slovakia -- “refugees”, “migrants”, and “foreigners” -- on multiple attitudinal and behavioural measures. In addition, we also tested the intergroup contact hypothesis about the relationship between participants’ evaluations and their experiences of direct, extended, and mass-mediated contact with these target groups. We found that “refugees” invoked less favourable feelings, attitudes, trust, and greater social distance compared to “migrants” and “foreigners”. These evaluations related to the valence (and less to the quantity) of participants’ experience of intergroup contact. These results challenge previous findings about public opinion preferences for “refugees” over “migrants”, support the intergroup contact hypothesis, and make a case for a more contextualized research.