Description
Book Synopsis Written for study abroad practitioners, this book introduces theoretical understandings of key study abroad terms including “the global/national,” “culture,” “native speaker,” “immersion,” and “host society.” Building theories on these notions with perspectives from cultural anthropology, political science, educational studies, linguistics, and narrative studies, it suggests ways to incorporate them in study abroad practices. Through attention to daily activities via the concept of immersion, it reframes study abroad not as an encounter with cultural others but as an occasion to analyze constructions of “differences” in daily life, backgrounded by structural arrangements.
Trade Review “Doerr’s work makes a unique contribution to the international education scholarship by grouping together the key terms supporting the dominant discourse and putting them under the spotlight for a closer examination. For easy practical reference, the author chooses to focus on one term in each chapter. While using theories to expose the study abroad clichés, the author manages to keep her language simple and easy to understand.” • McGill Journal of Education
“This is an important contribution to the literature of international education. It deconstructs unexamined orthodoxies and proposes alternative ways of thinking about study abroad that could enrich the theoretical basis for this form of education, and lead practitioners to review what and how they teach.” • Michael Woolf, CAPA, The Global Education Network
“A necessary text… [this book] could go far in changing some of the fundamental questions about designing or carrying out study away programs.” • John J. Bodinger de Uriarte, Susquehanna University
Table of Contents Acknowledgments
Introduction
Sample Questions
Chapter 1. The Global and the National: Does the Global Need the National, and If It Does, What’s Wrong with That?
Recommended Readings
Sample Questions
Chapter 2. Culture: Is It a Homogeneous, Static Unit of Difference?
Recommended Readings
Sample Questions
Activity: Study Abroad Checklist
Chapter 3. “Native Speakers”: Do They Really Exist, and Should Students Aim to Speak Like Them?
Recommended Readings
Sample Questions
Chapter 4. Immersion: Is It Really about “Living Like a Local”?
Recommended Readings
Activity: Daorba Yduts
Sample Questions
Chapter 5. Host Society and Host Family: Who Are They, and Who Shapes Their Lives?
Recommended Readings
Sample Questions
Chapter 6. Border Crossing: Do We Instead Construct Borders through Learning and Volunteering?
Recommended Readings
Sample Questions
Chapter 7. Self-Transformation: Do Assessing and Talking about Self-Transformation Involve Power Politics?
Recommended Readings
Sample Questions
Conclusion and Departure: New Frameworks for Study Abroad
References
Index
