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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

long study abroad programs, either for financial or personal reasons, eventually opt for shorter trips abroad, which become their only opportunity to experience a full linguistic and cultural submersion. According to Vondrova, the popularity of short-term programs that started in the 1990s is also due to the fact that they are much easier to align with the university’s academic goals and are more conductive for faculty involvement (221). In connection with all these changes, one could argue that if Carlson et al. conducted a replica of their original research at the beginning of the XXI century, the results of their study would reveal that present day students are much more supportive of shorter study abroad experiences. When discussing program duration, Gorka and Niesenbaum argue for the development of interdisciplinary short-term study abroad programs that could help non- language majors to connect meaningfully their specialization with language instruction. In their research Gorka and Niesenbaum found evidence that short-term programs “can provide students with an initial exposure to . . . culture and diversity, give them a different perspective on their own field of study, spark their interest in further language study, and inspire them to find a way to fit a semester- or year-long study-abroad experience into their academic careers” (100). Gorka and Niesenbaum note that both language and non-language majors should be able to study abroad, and that short-term programs provide a great opportunity for non-language majors to experience other cultures and improve their language skills. They remark that short-term study abroad programs are traditionally stigmatized by language professionals who believe that “fluency, or at least proficiency, can only be achieved with extensive, long-term exposure to the language in an immersion setting,” and advocate for a change in the attitude (101). According to these researchers, short-term study abroad programs have their audience and purpose. These programs might not be as effective in increasing students’ linguistic 15
proficiency as long-term programs, yet they provide students with opportunities to use language learned in a classroom setting in real life situations. In addition, younger students may benefit more from short-term programs than students who are getting close to graduation, because they are more likely to find a way to fit in their studies another, longer-term study abroad trip before finishing school. Gorka and Niesenbaum also comment on some of the disadvantages of short-term programs. They note that these programs usually have a different structure from longer programs: in many of them, students do not live with families and “might be little more than tourists who receive credit for traveling… [students] have very little contact with the people who live in the towns or cities they visit, and therefore, next to no reason to use their language skills” (103). They suggest that in order to overcome this problem students need to be better prepared before they leave the country and more actively involved in the community while abroad. In connection with the better preparation before the departure on short-term programs, Kitao observes that pre-program orientation is extremely important for short- term study abroad programs. In her research on the changes in Japanese students’ perception of their proficiency in English and in the way they viewed the host culture and host culture nationals as a result of a short-term stay in the United States, Kitao concludes that the success of a short term program is due, among other things, to a substantial pre- departure orientation component. Kitao observes that, in the case of her own research, even though students’ linguistic skills could not have improved considerably within a period of one month, without doubt students became more confident language users, and their image of America and Americans became very positive. “In addition to gaining confidence in their English, many of the students seemed to have gained more motivation to further improve their English” (111). 16
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 and 18: Acculturation is the process of ada
Page 19 and 20: their knowledge of the Russian cult
Page 21 and 22: STUDY ABROAD Chapter II: The Review
Page 23 and 24: learning more about self. Instituti
Page 25: abroad for a short time only, they
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
Page 103 and 104:
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
Page 123 and 124:
among those arrested, prosecuted, i
Page 125 and 126:
Azerbaidzhan are not that rare in R
Page 127 and 128:
Russians were literally segregated
Page 129 and 130:
As an American you stand out… eve
Page 131 and 132:
Azerbaijani, Georgians, Tajiki, etc
Page 133 and 134:
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
Page 139 and 140:
The incident described by the parti
Page 141 and 142:
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
Page 171 and 172:
Olson, David H., and Mikhail S. Mat
Page 173 and 174:
Vondrova, Kristine. "The Value of S
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?