tennessee State University
Running head: CHANGING APPROACHES TO STUDY ABROAD 1
CHANGING APPROACHES TO STUDY ABROAD 3
A History of Study Abroad Programs in American Colleges: Changing Purposes and Participants
Malcolm B. Biko
Tennessee State University
IF an author’s note were required, it would go here and you’d put funding sources and contact information. But we don’t use author’s notes for this assignment. We also don’t use footnotes, tables, or figures.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to review the history of study abroad by American undergraduates. This topic is important because there is evidence that study abroad is associated with personal growth and with higher academic achievement and professional success. Three databases (PsycARTICLES, SOCIndex, and HigherEd) were used to identify empirical and review articles that were published in peer-reviewed journals between 1937 and 2017. Although most of the articles were published in the last 20 years, the review discusses at least one article from each decade. This made it possible to identify trends in study abroad during three periods: Before World War II, from the 1950s to the end of the Cold War in 1991, and from the mid-1990s to the present. The results indicated that the most important changes over time had to do with the participants and the purpose of study abroad. This paper concludes with an overview of recommendations from the three time periods, emphasizing the most recent findings on the increasing cultural competence and on increasing the participation of underrepresented groups.
Key words: study abroad, cultural competence, high impact programs, history
A History of Study Abroad Programs in American Colleges: Changing Purposes and Participants
This first section is your introduction. It will probably be two pages long.
Notice that you don’t title the introduction “Introduction.” You just put the full title of the paper at the top of the page and kick off. In your introduction, you can use some of your abstract. Do NOT put the results from your abstract into this section. That’s DO NOT. Also DO NOT use bolding. I just put it in here to help you. But DO put this stuff in your Introduction, in about this order:
First, give a one- or two-sentence statement of the research question. In the abstract, you probably wrote just one sentence, but in the introduction, it’s okay to use maybe two. In a review with a history frame like this one, a good research question might be to examine changes in something (how has study abroad by American undergraduates changed, how has understanding of the causes of Autism Spectrum Disorder changed). In a review with a methodological frame, your question might be more along the lines of a “yes, but” statement: “There is extensive research on X, but most of these studies used self-report data. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on X, focusing on studies that used observational data.” Or you could use a “we know X and we know Y but we don’t know Z” question where you look at a little piece of another question. For example, “There is evidence that adolescents tend to have the same political values as their parent/s (e.g., Author, Author, Author, xxxx), but identity development theory (Author, xxxx) suggests that the values of many older adolescents and emerging adults are more likely to be different. This paper reviews studies that compare the attitudes of college students between the ages of 18 and 24 in order to determine when changes are most likely to occur and which values are most likely to change.” If you did a thematic frame, your research question might revolve around the idea of a problem: “In the United States, driving and parking fines are the same for all, regardless of income, even though a $100 fine may devastate a low-income driver and do nothing to deter a high-income driver. Proposals to link the size of fines to the driver’s income have failed. The purpose of this paper is to review research articles that could help to explain how American voters think about this problem.”
Second, give an explanation of the importance of the research question–that is, why it matters). This section should be at least one long paragraph long and might be a whole page long, but don’t get chatty and don’t get personal. Look at (1) above where it says “We know this but we don’t know this” and think in those terms.
Third, give a description of your methodology–meaning which databases you searched and what type of articles you used-probably you used empirical articles and possibly a review and ideally a meta-analysis.
Fourth, give some sort of preview in which you remind your reader of your research question and talk about how you’re going to talk about it. (Seriously. You tell the reader what you’re going to tell them.) For example, on that tickets and fines thing, you might say, “This paper will review research that may help to explain voter preferences about the size of driving and parking fines. The first section of the literature review gives an overview of the problem of fine size. The second section gives an overview of efforts to link fine amounts to income levels, including current laws in other countries and also past (later revoked) laws in the United States. The third and longest section of the literature review discusses research on the conflicting values and issues involved, for example: Punishments should be the same for all; Punishments should not be “cruel and unusual;” and Punishments should have a deterrent effect. The fourth and final section of the literature review gives an overview of the psychology of moral decision making when faced with conflicting values (for example, equality versus fairness).
Review of the Literature
[The first two heading levels get their own paragraph, as shown here. Headings 3, 4, and 5 are run-in headings used at the beginning of the paragraph.]
The size of driving and parking fines
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Efforts to link fine size to income level
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx In this little space you might just tell the reader that you’re going to talk about international and American laws.
International laws.
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State and local laws in the United States.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Conflicting values and issues
Xxxxxx In this space, you’d introduce the idea of conflicting values and issues.xxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Punishments should be the same for all. .xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Punishments should have a not be “cruel and unusual.” Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Punishments should have a deterrent effect. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Summary
Xxxxx THIS SECTION JUST HAPPENED TO FALL ON A NEW PAGE. IT REALLY BELONGS RIGHT UNDER THE LIT REVIEW. This section is probably 2 paragraphs long. Stay tightly focused on what you learned. No commentary here.
The results indicated that the purpose and participants in study abroad changed over time. Before World War II, study abroad was mainly for students studying a foreign language, for backpacking students traveling independently, and for wealthy students on “grand tour” experiences. Funding was by students or their families. From about 1947 to 1995, study abroad became more common and many universities started supporting it as an academic experience. After 1995, there was more emphasis on study abroad as a “high impact experience” to help students gain cultural competence and professional readiness.
In summary, the biggest change over time was Expansion: More people went more places for more reasons. But on a deeper level, the changes in participants reflected important changes in American thinking about who could attend college and what college is about.
Discussion
In this section, do four things:
(1) Talk about what you learned on a deeper level—but for just 1-3 paragraphs. You might pick off where I left off and say something like this:
In times when minority and lower income students did not have legal access or funds to attend college, study abroad was also off limits. As more students of color and lower income students have attended college, more have participated in study abroad. At the same time, men of all races and ethnicities are underrepresented in study abroad, and White men are one of the most underrepresented groups.
This change in participants may be linked to the change in the perceived purpose of study abroad. In recruiting for study abroad programs, there is currently less emphasis on personal growth and more emphasis on increasing attractiveness to potential employers. But there are other means of becoming more attractive to employers, including internships, summer jobs in a professional setting, and summer classes to pursue a double major or improve GPA. Study abroad offers students adventure, challenge, growth in resilience, and growth in cultural competence. Is it possible that in adapting study abroad for the needs of college students in a tight economy, universities have underestimated their students’ need for challenge and adventure?
(2) Talk about the implications of what you learned—what does it mean? How could it help?
(3) Talk about the limitations of your review—for example, maybe you only had five core articles and this is a huge area, or maybe the studies you cited got conflicting results and there was no meta-analysis to help you bring them together.
(4) Talk about future research. What needs to be done to understand this topic better?
References
Last Name, F. M. (Year). Article title. Journal Title, Volume number, pages from-to. doi:sss
Last Name, F. M., Last Name, F. M., & Last Name, F. M. (Year) Article title. Journal Title, Volume number, pages from-to. doi:sss.sss.ssss.sss.