Study Abroad Experiences for Korean EFL Student Teachers in a Large Philippine University

The J ournal of Studies in Language 31.2, 215246. The purpose of this study is to examine study abroad experiences of Korean college students in a newly designed study abroad program for student teachers of education in the Philippines. Eleven college students, two males and nine females, participated in the study for four weeks in 2014. Using mixed methods, data were gathered from writing samples, a survey questionnaire, written reports and semistructured interviews. Findings suggest that while students experienced communication and adaptation problems in the beginning, overall, they adapted well to studying and practicing student teaching in the Philippines; After the program the students became highly motivated to learn and teach English, and enhanced interests and confidence in student teaching and using English. Their attitude toward learning of English and cultural aspects of others also changed positively. The results of the study indicate that on average both studying English abroad and student teaching practice have encouraging effects on the learner’s perceptions and experiences, and positive development of intercultural awareness for future teachers in Korea

Study Abroad Experiences for Korean EFL Student Teachers in a Large Philippine University*

Key words: study abroad, language development, communication, student teachers

1 Introduction

Study abroad programs have been recognized as the ideal foreignlanguage learning programs because they maximize opportunities to usethe target language naturally in communicative situations (Back, 2009;Byram & Morgan, 1994; Choe, 2013; Collentine, 2009; Dufon & Churchill,2006; Freed, 1995) Learning a foreign language falls naturally in learning

* This work was supported by Hannam University Research Grant, 2013

a second language environment in the study abroad context (Collentine,2009) In the case of study abroad environment, language learning could

be maximized when it takes place in socially and culturally embeddedcontexts as in learning a second language (Choe, 2013)

Although the number of Korean students studying abroad has beendecreasing in the last three years, it has been increasing in thePhilippines According to the 2015 Korean Ministry of Education report,Korean students who went to study in the Philippines increased from3,917 in 2012, to 7,073 in 2014 while the total number of Korean studentsstudying abroad has decreased from 239,213 in 2013 to 219,543 in 2014.Reasons why an increasing number of students go to the Philippinesmay include low cost of living and tuition, or geographic proximity mayattribute to the causes for the changes Geographically the Philippines iscloser to Korea than other English speaking countries, and English isstill widely used among the Philippine people and foreign visitors intheir daily communication as in the case of Kachru’s outer circle’ land(Kachru, 1989) English as a means of wider communication definitelyattracts foreign visitors (McKay, 2012) Also, closeness or goodimpressions gained from popular cultures, such as mass media, internet

or newspapers, may attract Korean students to the Philippines (Lee &Park, 2012; Joe, 2005) In addition, friendly people and accommodatingyear-round warm weather attract many Koreans

English in the Philippines has been used as the official language until

1989 Philippine educational system is quite different from Korea’s inmany ways, heavily influenced by America’s since the country wasunder American sovereignty from 1898 to 1945, and earlier by theSpanish for more than 300 years (The Philippines, 2015) Such historicalbackground of the country can help to explain the country uniquelymultiple linguistic and cultural context

Despite the increase in the number of Korean students to thePhilippines for study only a few studies have been explored in relation

to the benefits of study abroad programs, suitability of such programs

to the students’ needs, or to how and in what aspects the study abroadprograms have affected learners’ language development and interculturalcompetence (Cha & Shin, 2013; Joe, 2005; Jung & Yun, 2011; Kym,2011; Lee & Park, 2012; Park, 2007; Seo & Kim, 2015) This study was

developed out of the concern and to call for more studies to developsuitable curricula and syllabi to suit the needs of Korean EFL studentteachers No research has been available regarding student teachingpractice overseas in combination with language learning activities.The study attempts to examine perceptions, experiences, benefits andefficacy of the program for further development of such a program infuture Research questions for the study were proposed as follows: (1)How will the participants’ language ability change after four weeks ofstudy abroad? (2) What are the participants’ perceptions on their learning

of English and culture in a study abroad program? And, (3) what did theparticipants gain from the program with emphasis on student teachingpractice? The research questions were investigated in terms of linguistic,attitudinal and cultural perspectives of study abroad in the study

2 Literature Review

Study abroad programs can provide an alternate opportunity to learnEnglish and culture by using English in the socially and culturallyembedded contexts (Choe, 2013; Collentine, 2009; Freed, 1995; Zmastil-Vondrova, 2005)

2.1 Study Abroad Programs and Learning Environment

Study abroad programs have generated much interest in teaching andlearning of foreign languages worldwide since 1960s, when the majority

of studies dealt with learning a foreign language in the target languageenvironment emphasizing language learning as well as socioculturalacquisition (Bacon, 2002; Brecht & Robinson, 1995; Choe, 2013; Churchill

& Dufon, 2006; Freed, 1995; Magnan & Back, 2007; Nam, 2007) Studyabroad programs involve with the learning environment where thetarget language is used as a means of communication, and theparticipants are forced to use it as their second language in their dailycommunication In such environment as in an ESL country, for example,learners use English for survival and to experience foreign culture atthe same time (Hinkel, 2014; Celce-Murcia, 2014) An ESL learner needs

to use English not only in class but also in markets or other localcommunity areas to buy foods or to participate in local communityevents for example Using English in a real life situation, would buildfunctional knowledge of English, and help to eventually learn English(Byram & Morgan, 1994; Hinkel, 2014).

Freed (1995) found that research on study abroad has supportedlanguage acquisition, although some challenged the position by providingcontradictory results that might impede acquisition at the beginningstages (Spada, 1986) From their study on impact of study abroad andstrategy-building intervention, Cohen and Shively (2007) concluded thatstudy-abroad students do not necessarily achieve greater language gainsthan their peers who stay home and study the target language It doesnot affect development in all aspects of a learner’s competence(Collentine, 2009) In some respects, linguistic aspects related to fluencyand functional skills are easily gained from study abroad, but formalparts of language such as grammatical aspects may not necessarilyimprove (Carroll, 1967; Collentine, 2009)

2.2 Study Abroad Programs for Korean Students

While much research on study abroad has been done with differentforeign languages in a wide range of disciplines around the world in thelast decades (Allen, 2010; Cai & Sankaran, 2015; Costello, 2015; Freed,1995; O’Reilly, Hickey and Ryan, 2015), only a handful of studies onKorean EFL students have been reported in Korea; about twentygraduate theses or dissertations have dealt with the issues related tostudy abroad while a dozen articles have been published throughprofessional journals in the last twenty years (Back, 2009; Chang, 2005;Choe, 2013; Joe, 2005; Jung & Yun, 2011; Kim & Yang, 2010; Kym,2011; Lee, E., 2008; Lee, E., 2009; Lee, J., 2008; Lee & Park, 2012; Nam,2007; Park, 2007; Seo & Kim, 2015)

Research studies on study abroad in Korea can be classified in thefour categories (McKenzie & Schweitzer, 2001); language skills andlearning, psychological and cognitive dimension, demographic andlanguage achievement Research related to language learning andskill-factors was done by Joe (2005), Jung and Yun (2011), Kim (2008),

and Nam (2007) Learning skills, learning strategies (i.e., meta-cognitive,cognitive and subject-matter specific strategies and approaches wereexplored as variables influencing language development by Huh (2013).With regard to the psychological dimension, motivation, anxiety, socialand emotional support, confidence and beliefs were explored by Kim(2008), Lee (2008), Lee (2009), and Kim and Yang (2010) Researchrelated to the cognitive dimension, which includes self-efficacy andself-regulation were examined through quantitative analysis by Jungand Yun (2011) Lastly, demographic features such as gender and agewere examined in relation to language achievement (Joe, 2005; Jung &Yun, 2011; Lee & Park, 2012; Park, 2007; Seo & Kim, 2015) Joe (2005)examined the relationship between self-perceived English languageproficiency and positive perception of the study abroad program overall.

In her study, participants with higher levels of English languageproficiency tended to view the study abroad program more positivelythan the participants with lower levels of English language proficiency.Kim (2013) examined the problems that the multi-cultural studentshad regarding their intercultural communicative competence and thereasons for the students’ failures in intercultural communication Shefound that social environment influenced participants’ language behaviorand attitude greatly, and an open-minded attitude played an importantrole in building the learners’ intercultural communicative competence in

a diverse multi-cultural communication

Back (2009) suggested that Korean students’ failure on a long-termstudy abroad in an ESL country was strongly associated with culturalwithdrawal and frustration with developing communicative competence inEnglish Those students began with strong desire to meet with nativespeakers of English in order to develop their communicative competence

in English when they went abroad As time goes by, however, theybecame reluctant to talk to native speakers, hesitated meeting with newpeople, and became passive in developing social interaction with nativespeakers Back (2009) concluded that the students’ failure was due to thelack of communicative competence or other social situational factors Lee(2009) also pointed out that students’ communication failures, and otheremotional factors such as homesickness, feeling depressed or culturalmisunderstanding impeded students’ possible interactions and learning

opportunities Nam (2007) suggested that students’ participation in socialinteraction is positively related to their English proficiency.

3 Research Design

A new study abroad program for student teachers was designed andnegotiated by the researcher at a large university in the Philippines tenmonths before it was implemented in June, 2014 This program was toprovide student teachers a language experiential program and a teachingpracticum as a part of student teaching practice before their graduation.After the program was initiated in June, 2014, overall evaluation onthe whole program was done through survey questionnaires, writtenreports and interviews The present study attempts to examine theeffects of the study abroad program that cannot be measured bynumbers but rather that can be observed, reflected and interpreted inunderstanding participants’ experiences, perceptions or beliefs in thehope of defining individual differences and their uniqueness throughqualitative inquiry (Park & Lee, 2010)

The Philippines as the venue for this experiential learning programwas based on the need to (1) allow the EFL students to learn English

in an ESL setting, (2) expose them to a country where English is used

as a means of wider communication, and (3) learn English throughusing and participating in a teaching practicum arrangement

3.1 Context of Learning

Eleven participants participated in the pre-trip orientation on campus,spent four weeks in the Philippines, and attended post-trip interviewsand discussions The program consisted of coursework on integratedlanguage skills development, teaching practicum at a high school,participating in service learning project and culture learning eventsthrough field trips Teaching practicum was considered an importantcomponent in order to expose the pre-service teachers to an aspect inthe Philippine educational system, allowing them to appreciate and valuethe commonalities and diversities of the educational process

3.1.1 Coursework

As part of the program participants were enrolled in three courses,

“Listening-Speaking,” “Reading and Speaking” and “Reading andWriting,” and in the ‘teaching practicum’ project All classes focused onintegrated language skills and class instruction was centered on thetask-based and the whole language approach, focusing on students’active participation and interaction Writing assignments were included

in all classes Task-based and whole language approach was supportedthrough cultural immersion that included practical experiences,opportunities for discussions Class visits and observation, activities, andwritten assignments were carefully chosen to enable students to explorethe educational and cultural context, and apply different perspectives inunderstanding the context of multiple cultures, including their own (SeeTable 1)

Table 1 Class Arrangement and the Amount of Hours Assigned

Class 1: Listening-speaking

Class 2: Reading and speaking

Class 3: Reading and writing

60 hrs total(=3 hrs per day, 15 hrs per week,

4 wks.)Teaching Practicum

- Class observation

- Mentor sessions and conferences

- Teaching demonstration and

discussions

30 hrs total(=2 hrs per day, 3 wks.)

Service Learning Project

3.1.2 Cultural Immersion and Teaching Practicum

Teaching practicum was designed to provide for the studentsopportunities to interact with speakers of the English language viasit-in classes, to participate in mentor sessions with high schoolteachers in order to help the pre-service teachers become betterteachers in the future All participants observed high school classes forthree weeks, participated in conferences with high school mentorteachers through group-facilitated discussions and teaching Thisteaching practicum focused on the students’ experiential learning throughteaching authenticity to the learning and teaching process

3.1.3 Service Learning Project

In addition to the teaching practicum, the students participated in anuniversity outreach program for the needy, visiting a nursery schoollocated in the outskirts of the city for a day There the student teacherstaught 4 to 6 year-old children for which students received credit.3.2 Participants

Eleven college students, two males and nine females, all of whomwere 18-25 years old, participated in the program Students were fromdiverse academic majors including education, English education, fine artseducation, business, golf sports, police academy and administration Thiswas their first study abroad experience except for one who had visitedPhilippines for a few weeks

The program was originally designed for pre-service teachers ofeducation, but students from other academic areas were also allowed toparticipate in the program Table 2 shows participants’ pseudonym andcorresponding demographic information

3.3 Data Collection

Data were gathered from four sources; pre- and post-tests, surveyquestionnaires, semi-structured interviews and written reports

Table 2 Participants’ Profile (N=11)

3.3.1 Pre- and Post-tests and Rating

In order to assess the students’ language development during theprogram, writing tests were given before and after the program Thewriting tests were chosen for the pre- and post-tests with interviewsafterward because writing skills were commonly included in all classesand the writing products could be investigated overtly in terms oflinguistic features including language forms and functions

Students were asked to write an English essay on the ‘pros or cons’

on an assigned topic, “Failure is proof that the desire won’t strongenough.” They were given one hour to write 300 words Then, eachwas interviewed for 20 minutes, after the writing test, by the samewriting evaluators who graded students’ writings beforehand Thewriting samples were graded according to four criteria, i.e., contentorganization, unity, grammar and diction The interview took four hourstotal for the whole group The evaluators were experts in languageassessments for over 15 years at the university but unfortunately nostudy on raters’ validity was available

The follow-up interview after the writing test was intended to givethe students the chance to elaborate on their wratten test For theinterviewers, it was a good opportunity to elucidate for any unclearexpressions that the students wrote, and to check the students’ level ofEnglish language proficiency The interviewers tried to use the same

questions in order to minimize any potential problems that might bedrawn from the wrong use of different questions to each student Thefollowing sample questions were prepared beforehand; (1) Tell me howyou felt after you finished the writing? (2) Why did you say that? (3)You wrote _ What did you mean?

3.3.2 Survey on Students’ Perceptions on the Program

A survey questionnaire was designed to explore students’ perceptionsand beliefs about the program and was given after the program wasover The question format was adapted from Kym’s (2011) study andmodified to suit the specific features of the present study It consisted

of four sections; (1) perceptions on language development, (2) overallevaluation on the program, (3) self-report on their personal growth and(4) open-ended questions on the program in general (See Appendix 1).The questionnaire required the participants to choose the appropriatenumber on a five-point Likert scale The questionnaire was written inboth Korean and English so that the participants could choose theirpreferred language to respond to

Questionnaires were delivered to all students after the program wasfinished, and all responded showing a 100% response rate Data wasanalyzed according to the frequency and percentage of each type ofresponses

3.3.3 Semi-structured Interview and Written Report

Once students returned to their home country, a semi-structured,group oral interview was conducted by the researcher The interviewwas held for three hours in a seminar room, ten days after the arrival,aimed at letting participants share experiences and discuss their uniqueperspectives All eleven participants joined the interview The interviewwas audio-taped, transcribed and translated into 42 pages in English.The interview was done in Korean and translated into English by theresearcher Questions focused on three areas; background information,study abroad program and their perception A sample of interviewquestions is given here: (1) Why did you participate in the study abroad

program? What were your goals? (2) What did you enjoy most andleast about the classes? (3) How much did your language abilityimprove or not improve, and why? (4) What do you think of teachingpracticum? What have you gained from the practicum? (5) What haveyou learned about the Philippine people and culture?

Lastly, written reports were gathered two weeks after the program ended.3.4 Data Analysis

Once the data was collected, descriptive analyses were first carriedout to provide insights into students’ experiences in the Philippines.Since the study is qualitative inquiry oriented, it tried to examineindividual differences among the participants, and the uniqueness of theparticipants and the target program rather than to deal with the wholepopulation toward which one can generalize the research findings (Park

& Lee, 2010) Using a mix-method, the study investigated participants’experiences in their learning English as a second language, theirperceptions on language development, culture learning, on the program,and their gains after the four weeks of study abroad

Recorded interviews were transcribed and comprised 42 single-spacedpages of data for analysis Individual transcripts were coded andanalyzed for emergent themes using the comparative technique to groupanswers to the common questions (Patton, 1990) Data gathered fromwritten reports, and field observations comprised 18 single-spaced pageswere categorized and illustrated how students’ experiences aligned with

or complimented others’ research Data were analyzed, followingnarrative inquiry studies and illustrating participants’ stories (Clandinin

& Connelly, 2000) Features of narrative inquiry suggested by Clandininand Connelly included plot line, character, setting, action, place, time andpoint of view When interpreting the data, this study tried to look fortransformative changes in participants’ experiences, belief, attitudes, andperceptions The results of the study were interpreted, however, more or

so according to the researcher’s subjective point of view, wheninterpreting the specific phenomena and its process

4 Findings

4.1 Research Question 1: On students’ Language Development

In order to answer Research Question 1, “How will the participants’language ability change after four weeks of study abroad? the pre- andpost-tests were compared as shown in Table 3

Table 3 Mean score of Pre- and Post-Tests for the participants

Table 4 Paired Differences of the Pre-and Post-Tests

Table 4 shows that there is no statistically significant differencebetween the pre-and post-scores as shown in (t(10)=-1.04, p=.32) Itcan be inferred that the post-test was not affected by the pre-test, northere was any significant change between the two tests

From the two tables, it can be concluded that the students’ writingability did not improve during the four weeks of study abroad Theresult was contradictory from other studies (Carroll, 1967; Brecht,Davidson & Ginsberg, 1995) that asserted study abroad program affectsgains in certain language specific domains (e.g., listening or speakingskills) Also, study abroad programs may help participants gain fluency

and functional parts of a language but not necessarily the formalaspects of a language in such a short period of time as in study abroad(O’Brien, Segalowitz, Freed & Collentine, 2007).

Since the study dealt with a small number of subjects, the results ofthe analysis above could not be used to predict or to solve researchquestions toward a large population for generalization or establishingstandards (Park & Lee, 2010) Despite that the statistical analysis asshown in the Tables 3 and 4 it did not support research question 1regarding participants’ language development, however, it is worthwhile

to examine the details of students’ performance that might help theresearcher to understand the nature of participants’ work and changes inthe two tests Table 5 shows the score pattern of pre- and post-tests

of individual’s writing ability

Table 5 Comparison of the Scores between Pre- and Post-tests of the ParticipantsPseudonym Pre-test Post-test improvementDegree of

4.2 Research Question 2: Students’ Perceptions on the Program

In order to answer research question 2, “what are the participants’

perceptions on their learning of English and culture in a study abroadprogram?” data were gathered from a survey questionnaire and awritten report Eleven students responded to the survey, showing a100% response rate The survey questionnaire included 39 questions to

be answered according to 5-point Likert Scale: It included four parts as

‘on language development and learning experience,’ ‘overall evaluation’ ofthe program, ‘on self-reflection on personal growth,’ and ‘open-endedquestions’ related to the general effects of the program (see Appendix 1)

On the 5-point Likert scale 5 points refers very strongly agreement, 4points strong agreement, 3 points fair agreement, 2 points disagreement,and 1 point strong disagreement

4.2.1 Student’ Perceptions on Their Language Development

When questioned about their perceived their language developmentfrom the study abroad program, students responded to eleven language-skill related items with average score ranged from 3.18 to 4.45 (SeeTable 6)

It became clear that participating students in the program felt theircommunicational and functional skills were much more improved thanformal parts of a language For example, functional parts of a languagethat were highly scored with average scores above 4.00 were theconversational ability (4.18), understanding of local culture (4.45),understanding of local people (4.27) and cross-cultural understanding(4.45)

On the contrary, the students viewed that their vocabulary andgrammatical knowledge were developed least as in 3.72 and 3.18,respectively Among four language skills, speaking and listening abilitiesdevelopment were outscored (as in 4.09 and 4.18, respectively) readingability (3.91) and writing abilities development (3.9) This result compliedwith other research studies proved that stronger gains were in listeningand speaking and less in reading and writing abilities (Brecht, Davison,

& Ginsburg, 1995; Caroll, 1967; Collentine, 2009; Freed, 1995; Kym, 2011).Also, there seem to be a big gap between students’ perceptions ontheir language development and their real language development It was

Table 6 Students’ Perceptions on Their Language Development (N=11)

Frequency (%) Lowerchoice Higherchoice Average

Speaking (27.3)3 (36.4)4 (36.4)4 (72.7)8 4.09Listening (27.3)3 (27.3)3 (45.5)5 (72.7)8 4.18Reading (27.3)3 (54.5)6 (18.2)2 (72.7)8 3.91Writing (36.4)4 (36.4)4 (27.3)3 (63.6)7 3.90Vocabulary (18.2)2 (27.3)3 (36.4)4 (27.3)3 2 (63.6)7 3.73Grammar (18.2)2 (54.5)6 (18.2)2 (9.09)1 (18.2)2 (27.3)3 3.18Conversational

Overall

Language ability (9.09)1 (27.3)3 (27.3)3 (36.4)4 (18.2)2 (63.6)7 3.91Understanding

of local culture (9.09)1 (36.4)4 (54.5)6 (90.9)10 4.45Understanding

of local people (9.09)1 6 (36.4)4 (90.9)10 4.27Cross-cultural

understanding (9.09)1 (36.4)4 (54.5)6 (90.9)10 4.45

noted earlier in the former section that students’ actual writing abilitywas not significantly improved But after four weeks of study, studentsseemed to think that their language skills improved The average scoresrelated to language skills (including those four language skills,conversational ability and general language ability) were 3.97 out of 5.00.4.2.2 The Issue of Study Abroad Efficacy

When asked about the study abroad program overall, most of the itemswere evaluated highly, average scores ranged from 4.09 to 4.64 Table 7shows the summery of the responses As shown in Table 7, responses tothe questions indicated students’ views on the English language andlanguage learning after the program were positive and were an indication

of confident attitudes All participations rated all items above 4.00

Table 7 Overall Evaluation of the Program

Frequency (%) Lowerchoice Higherchoice Average

Curriculum &

Coursework (9.09)1 (63.6)7 (27.3)3 (90.9)10 4.18Instructors (18.2)2 (54.5)6 (27.3)3 (81.8)9 4.09Class

Observation (9.09)1 (45.5)5 (45.5)5 (90.9)10 4.36Mentor teacher

guidance (9.09)1 (45.5)5 (45.5)5 (90.9)10 4.36Class

Service

learning (9.09)1 (63.6)7 (27.3)3 (90.9)10 4.18Educational

environment (18.2)2 (45.5)5 (36.4)4 (81.8)9 4.18Field trips (9.09)1 (27.3)3 (63.6)7 (90.9)10 4.55Program goals (10.0)1 (40.0)4 (50.0)5 (90.0)9 4.00Content (10.0)1 (40.0)4 (50.0)5 (90.0)9 4.00Class level (27.3)3 (36.4)4 (36.4)4 (72.7)8 4.09

My goals

achieved (27.3)3 (36.4)4 (36.4)4 (72.7)8 4.09Success of the

Also, students rated their own efforts and participation in the programhighly (90%) The program was viewed a success (90% of the students