Copyright by Tatiana Borisovna Segura 2008 - The University of ...

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One of the unique features of the study abroad program described in the study is that it provides intensive Russian language instruction at three different levels – beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Few study abroad programs in the United States allow their participants to travel abroad with a minimal level of linguistic proficiency, especially if the target language, like Russian, is one of the more difficult foreign languages to learn for native speakers of English. Since the program covers two semesters of Russian language instruction within the period of ten weeks, it is highly intensive and requires a great amount of motivation, concentration and work on the part of the students. During the first half of the program, students have up to 3 hours of language instruction daily, which is followed by a substantial amount of homework. During the Russia-based part of the program, students have five hours of language instruction Monday through Thursday. The intensity of the program is counterbalanced by the small size of classes (usually 3-8 students per section), which is extremely beneficial for students under such conditions and allows them to enjoy the kind of instruction that is similar to individual instruction. During the Russia-based part of the program, in addition to the in class language instruction, students are required to participate in a variety of cultural activities, such as going on a boat tour on the Moscow river or a trip to Lev Tolstoy’s estate in Yasnaya Polyana. Due to the short duration of the program, the schedule for these cultural activities is very dense. A weekend trip to Saint-Petersburg scheduled closer towards the end of the program allows students to experience other parts of Russia besides Moscow. In order to help participants in the program assimilate to the new cultural and linguistic environment, the program pairs them with native Russian language peer tutors. These tutors are carefully selected by the program and include young educated Muscovites looking for an opportunity to meet American students visiting Russia, share 7
their knowledge of the Russian culture, and learn more about the American culture. The primary responsibilities of language tutors are providing students with opportunities to practice Russian language skills in a natural language environment, helping them get around the city, and showing them places to shop, eat and entertain themselves. Students typically get together with their Russian language tutors once or twice a week for several hours. It is not unusual for students to build strong relationships with their tutors, meet their close friends and family, and go to their dachas over the weekend. THE PARTICIPANTS The participants in the study were eight undergraduates from a large state research university located in the southwestern United States. Participants’ background information was elicited through a written questionnaire administered before the departure for the study abroad trip, and also through informal conversations that took place at the end of the interviews. The medium age of the participants in the study was 21 years old. Out of eight participants in the study six were females and two were males. Six out of eight participants identified themselves as white Americans; one female identified herself as South East Asian American; another female participant identified herself as “white Latin-American of Cuban parentage.” The table below summarizes the information on each of the participants in the study. In order to preserve the anonymity of the participants, their real names are not used. 8
Page 1 and 2: Copyright by Tatiana Borisovna Segu
Page 3 and 4: Defining Self: Negotiating Cultural
Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements I would like to ex
Page 7 and 8: Students belonging to ethnic minori
Page 9 and 10: Overview of gender-related research
Page 11 and 12: Recommendations for study abroad pr
Page 13 and 14: environment I found myself in, and
Page 15 and 16: eproduced through the dominant ideo
Page 17: Acculturation is the process of ada
Page 21 and 22: STUDY ABROAD Chapter II: The Review
Page 23 and 24: learning more about self. Instituti
Page 25 and 26: abroad for a short time only, they
Page 27 and 28: proficiency as long-term programs,
Page 29 and 30: Identity and language learning Acco
Page 31 and 32: identities similar, however, is the
Page 33 and 34: Variables that affect acculturation
Page 35 and 36: information on the following topics
Page 37 and 38: In the study abroad context, howeve
Page 39 and 40: gender and, consequently, to the av
Page 41 and 42: called “gender-effect” is no lo
Page 43 and 44: eport in 1980, women do two thirds
Page 45 and 46: literature of the pre-communist per
Page 47 and 48: sex-role identity and women’s des
Page 49 and 50: of glasnost promoted by Gorbachev r
Page 51 and 52: everyday life of Russian women into
Page 53 and 54: influential change in perceiving th
Page 55 and 56: analysis of the experiences of a fe
Page 57 and 58: e arrived at, including the level o
Page 59 and 60: and following Hello’s et al. conc
Page 61 and 62: negative attitude towards Islam in
Page 63 and 64: against Russia exists. Brym and Deg
Page 65 and 66: Arminio 20). Since the subject of t
Page 67 and 68: It is important to keep in mind, ho
Page 69 and 70:
DATA COLLECTING TECHNIQUES This stu
Page 71 and 72:
At the conclusion of the pilot stud
Page 73 and 74:
in abundance, it is the theoretical
Page 75 and 76:
spell out things that are “sensit
Page 77 and 78:
Acculturation Culture shock Cultura
Page 79 and 80:
CULTURE SHOCK Chapter IV: Accultura
Page 81 and 82:
to a new cultural environment, and
Page 83 and 84:
American countries tend towards the
Page 85 and 86:
It just seemed really weird to be b
Page 87 and 88:
cross-cultural adjustment implies t
Page 89 and 90:
stay in the dormitory and living wi
Page 91 and 92:
could be also that women are more w
Page 93 and 94:
eing interested in fashionable clot
Page 95 and 96:
I saw that the Russians took their
Page 97 and 98:
in Moscow: the Independent Women’
Page 99 and 100:
my fate depends on me, and not on t
Page 101 and 102:
Vsekh Form Diskriminatsii v Otnoshe
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socio-cultural context, including t
Page 105 and 106:
sexual freedom or promiscuity of Ru
Page 107 and 108:
As for catcalling situations, two f
Page 109 and 110:
Moscow. The suburbs of Moscow that
Page 111 and 112:
In terms of inter-gender behavior,
Page 113 and 114:
domestic duties. This real inequali
Page 115 and 116:
esearch on Russian women’s attitu
Page 117 and 118:
policemen pulls you over, it’s pr
Page 119 and 120:
favoritism or, on the contrary, bia
Page 121 and 122:
Chapter VI: Ethnicity Analysis ETHN
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among those arrested, prosecuted, i
Page 125 and 126:
Azerbaidzhan are not that rare in R
Page 127 and 128:
Russians were literally segregated
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As an American you stand out… eve
Page 131 and 132:
Azerbaijani, Georgians, Tajiki, etc
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usage; and 2) the confusion non-nat
Page 135 and 136:
hypothesize that Russians use it pr
Page 137 and 138:
purpose of the training of the inha
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The incident described by the parti
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incidents of ethnic intolerance hap
Page 143 and 144:
and cultural background influence h
Page 145 and 146:
She believed that Russians and Amer
Page 147 and 148:
Rita expressed an opinion that Russ
Page 149 and 150:
same way: familial and hospitable.
Page 151 and 152:
I had Russian people telling me thi
Page 153 and 154:
viewed her as “chernaya” [black
Page 155 and 156:
eflecting on physical appearance an
Page 157 and 158:
The results of the study reveal tha
Page 159 and 160:
Another unexpected finding of the r
Page 161 and 162:
going abroad is gradually increasin
Page 163 and 164:
their trip goals more realistic; an
Page 165 and 166:
5. Were you ever denied access to c
Page 167 and 168:
Carlson, J., et al. Study Abroad: T
Page 169 and 170:
Johnson, Ericka. Dreaming of a Mail
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Olson, David H., and Mikhail S. Mat
Page 173 and 174:
Vondrova, Kristine. "The Value of S
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