Studying abroad: the role of college students' goals on the development of cross-cultural skills and global understanding

College Student Journal, Sept, 2004 by Anastasia Kitsantas

The Study Abroad Goals Scale (SAGS). This scale was developed based on Opper, Teichler & Carlson's (1990) work, inquiring into students' reasons for participating in studying abroad. Students were asked to answer 15 questions regarding their goals for participating in the study abroad program using a 5-point rating scale ranging from 1 (Not at all Important) to 5 (Very Important). A few sample items are: "Desire to develop my own perspective of the host country of the study abroad program" and/or "Desire to enhance my understanding of the host country of the (Study Abroad Program) (SAP)".

Posttest Measures

The Cross-Intercultural Adaptability Inventory. The same 50-item scale described above was readministered to measure possible change in the students' cross-intercultural skills after they finished the study abroad program.

The Global Perspective Survey (Hanvey, 1982). This 9-item survey examines the students' global perspective understanding. Global perspective involves the process of cross-cultural relativism where one can view one's own culture in relation to other cultures, and suspend judgment and ethnocentrism. Students were asked to select the response that most accurately reflected their global perspective from the following 5-point rating scale: 1(Strongly Agree), 2(Agree), 3(Neutral), 4(Disagree), and 5(Strongly Agree). Survey example questions included: "I gained a greater understanding of the places outside the United States", "I became aware of how our own society might be viewed from the perspective of people in other nations", and "I became aware of factors that have shaped global problems of today and the effects problems have on other world conditions and trends".

Design and Procedures

A repeated measures design was used to assess the effects of the study abroad programs on students' cross-cultural skills and global understanding. All participants signed an informed consent form and responded to the scales online before departure from and upon return to the United States.

Results

To analyze the data, paired t-tests were conducted to assess differences between the pretest and posttest measures (e.g., CCAI and global understanding). In addition, to determine the factorial structure of the SAGS a principal component factor analysis with oblimin rotation was conducted. Finally, correlational and regression analyses were used to determine relationships among the dependent measures.

Initial analyses among the students attending the five study abroad programs, England, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain, revealed no significant differences in the students' reports of their cross-cultural skills and global understanding. Non-significant results indicated that students, regardless of the classes enrolled abroad exhibited the same levels of cross-cultural effectiveness and global understanding before completion of the course. Therefore, further analyses treated the students enrolled in the different study abroad programs as intact groups.

Paired t-tests Analyses