Starting this semester, approximately 1000 students from four universities including Georgetown will participate in a research project that will try to determine the value of studying abroad for undergraduate students.
The Office of International Programs at Georgetown is heading the study, which will examine what students learn abroad and the conditions that support this learning, according to Director of International Programs Michael Vande Berg. The study, entitled Assessing Student Learning Abroad, will run for three years on a Title VI grant from the Department of Education.
The study is highly pertinent at universities like Georgetown, where approximately 51% of students go abroad during their undergraduate career.
“Study abroad at Georgetown is not a marginal activity, but a mainstream [one],”Vande Berg said. Since Georgetown is well known for its foreign language instruction, Vande Berg emphasized the need for OIP to understand the capabilities of its students, especially those students who are expected to be sufficiently proficient in a foreign language to enroll in non-English courses abroad.
Students from the University of Minnesota, Rice University and Dickinson College are also being given the option to take part in the study. The four universities were chosen for this study because of their strong commitment to study abroad programs, Vande Berg said.
Researchers are collecting data by having students take an oral proficiency test and survey to determine the student’s cultural awareness. The tests are given both before and after a student’s year abroad experience and are designed to measure their improvement in foreign language ability and intercultural competency.
Researchers will then take the data and compare it to a diverse range of program types. Vande Berg said that the duration of a study abroad program influences cultural and language proficiency, but acknowledged that factors such as housing and institution type contribute as well.
The results of the study will better equip OIP to advise students who wish to go abroad and help them understand students’ needs, and will also allow the University to improve its own programs designed for foreign students, Vande Berg said. However, the study will also investigate how disciplines not usually associated with study abroad, like engineering, business and science, may benefit.
Vande Berg said he thinks that the study will generate discussion about study abroad programs in English speaking countries and whether study abroad advisors should encourage students to seek language acquisition as their primary reason for going abroad.
“I’m very confident that we’ll know a whole lot more … and students will benefit from this study,” Vande Berg said.
