Not blogging, drinking : Peer learning, sociality and intercultural learning in study abroad

• Published in: Journal of research in international education Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 106 - 119
• Main Authors: Tonkin, Kati, Bourgault du Coudray, Chantal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2016
• Subjects: Australia; Australians; Blogs; College Students; Comparative Analysis; Computer Mediated Communication; Critical thinking; Cultural Awareness; Cultural Differences; Cultural interrelationships; Cultural literacy; Drinking; Electronic Publishing; Exchange Programs; Foreign Countries; Germany; Higher education; Intercultural communication; Intercultural programs; Interpersonal Relationship; Intervention; Interviews; Learning Experience; Online learning; Peer learning; Peer relationship; Peer Teaching; Postsecondary education; Qualitative research; Reflective journals; Reflective practice; Scaffolding (Teaching technique); Social Integration; Student Attitudes; Student experience; Study Abroad; Sustainability; Teaching Methods; University students; Germany; Australia; study abroad; Blogging; intercultural learning; peer learning; sociality; online learning
• ISSN: 1475-2409; 1741-2943
• DOI: 10.1177/1475240916647600

Research into study abroad students' intercultural learning has demonstrated a need to provide pedagogical support before, during and after the study abroad experience. This article reports on the authors' efforts to support the in-country learning of Australian study abroad students through an online guided reflection exercise (blog) with a peer-learning component. Our findings suggest that exposing students to theories of intercultural learning prior to the study abroad experience opens them to the possibility of such learning occurring. However, the unanticipated discovery that the students' most significant intercultural learning stemmed from the processes of social drinking rather than online interaction emphasizes that participation in an unfamiliar culture is an embodied and social experience, and suggests that concentration of pedagogical efforts in familiar and disembodied online spaces may disconnect students from the very experiences on which we wish them to reflect. We therefore recommend that instructors design opportunities for peer learning through embodied social interactions between outgoing and incoming study abroad students, framed by explicit discussion of concepts in intercultural learning. Such scaffolding is likely to be more sustainable in the current Australian fiscal environment than the intensive in-country instructor intervention that is common in the North American context. [Author abstract]