The Transformative Power of the Study Abroad Experience
Abstract
Language-related Study Abroad (SA) experiences can be catalysts for learner transformation in the areas of cognition, socialization, and/or affect by virtue of the location and experience. An Open Architecture Curriculum Design (OACD) framework can support, promote, and enhance such transformation, as evidenced in eight programs for young adults, including language students in government programs, referenced in this article. An educational philosophy that focuses on language learner transformation, Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (TLLT) has as its primary goals personal transformation that leads to multilingual/multicultural competence and learner autonomy; OACD is a fundamental principle of TLLT. Grounded in the work of Mezirow (1978, 1991), who first observed and described Transformative Learning (TL) in adult education, TLLT posits that the personal transformation cited involves cognitive, emotional, and cultural shifts occurring within the individual as s/he develops self-awareness, resolves disorienting dilemmas, identifies cognitive distortions, manages emotions, and ultimately integrates two (or more) cultures—the home culture and the target culture--on their own terms. TLLT in SA can be expressed as in-country study experience, virtual experience, language program with a service component, or in-country work experience with a language component. SA TLLT, in varying formats, has been used successfully in university, service academy, and government learning environments before, during, and after COVID—and continues to evolve with changing times.