Trải nghiệm giao tiếp liên văn hóa của những thành viên tham gia chương trình trao đổi ngắn hạn khu vực nghiên cứu nhiều đối tượng

The popularity of exchange programs or study abroad programs has been on an unprecedented increase. My research investigated the intercultural experiences of participants in a relatively new type of exchange program – short term regional ones. In addition, I looked at the perceived outcomes – their impacts on intercultural knowledge acquisition and attitude change as perceived by the participants themselves. My research adopted the qualitative case study design where I selected three alumni of such programs who differed in terms of experience richness and program focus. Using semistructured interviews that encourage participants to critically reflect on their previous experience, the study revealed that the majority of intercultural experiences occurred during the program while predeparture experiences were rarely accounted. Typically, targeted programs did not hold any followup activities so my participants relined mostly on gained international relationship for postevent experiences. For impacts of the programs, my participants gained significantly about social, historical, linguistic, cultural values and specialized knowledge. On the other hand, attitudes changed both negatively and positively while the former exceeded the latter. Unpredictably, the findings confirmed the necessity of reflection in making intercultural experiences meaningful and longlasting. The popularity of exchange programs or study abroad programs has been on an unprecedented increase. My research investigated the intercultural experiences of participants in a relatively new type of exchange program – short term regional ones. In addition, I looked at the perceived outcomes – their impacts on intercultural knowledge acquisition and attitude change as perceived by the participants themselves. My research adopted the qualitative case study design where I selected three alumni of such programs who differed in terms of experience richness and program focus. Using semistructured interviews that encourage participants to critically reflect on their previous experience, the study revealed that the majority of intercultural experiences occurred during the program while predeparture experiences were rarely accounted. Typically, targeted programs did not hold any followup activities so my participants relined mostly on gained international relationship for postevent experiences. For impacts of the programs, my participants gained significantly about social, historical, linguistic, cultural values and specialized knowledge. On the other hand, attitudes changed both negatively and positively while the former exceeded the latter. Unpredictably, the findings confirmed the necessity of reflection in making intercultural experiences meaningful and longlasting.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES

HÀ NỘI - 2019

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HOÁ CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH

KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

TRẢI NGHIỆM GIAO TIẾP LIÊN VĂN HÓA CỦA NHỮNG THÀNH VIÊN THAM GIA CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TRAO ĐỔI NGẮN HẠN KHU VỰC: NGHIÊN CỨU NHIỀU

Supervisor's Signature of Approval:

Hanoi, May 2nd, 2019

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work would not be possible if it were not for the support from others I would like to thank my supervisor, Nguyen Thanh Ha, for guiding and giving me a lot of useful advice Throughout the project, I encountered problems and hard questions which were all addressed properly with her timely assistance Besides, I felt very grateful towards my three participants, who were willing to spend time sharing information for my research They were all kind and supportive when I had to inquire their personal experiences Their participation was the key element to the accomplishment of my thesis Additionally, I want to pay my gratitude to Ms Hoang Thi Hanh, whose comments were extremely valuable to me when I was confused and puzzled about research topic at the beginning Her guidance made me become more confirmed and clearer about the research track to follow Last but not least, I highly appreciate my dear classmates and my family for constant encouragement and motivation

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ABSTRACT

The popularity of exchange programs or study abroad programs has been on an unprecedented increase My research investigated the intercultural experiences of participants in a relatively new type of exchange program – short term regional ones In addition, I looked at the perceived outcomes – their impacts on intercultural knowledge acquisition and attitude change as perceived by the participants themselves My research adopted the qualitative case study design where I selected three alumni of such programs who differed

in terms of experience richness and program focus Using semi-structured interviews that encourage participants to critically reflect on their previous experience, the study revealed that the majority of intercultural experiences occurred during the program while pre-departure experiences were rarely accounted Typically, targeted programs did not hold any follow-up activities

so my participants relined mostly on gained international relationship for event experiences For impacts of the programs, my participants gained significantly about social, historical, linguistic, cultural values and specialized knowledge On the other hand, attitudes changed both negatively and positively while the former exceeded the latter Unpredictably, the findings confirmed the necessity of reflection in making intercultural experiences meaningful and long-lasting

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work would not be possible if it were not for the support from others I would like to thank my supervisor, Nguyen Thanh Ha, for guiding and giving me a lot of useful advice Throughout the project, I encountered problems and hard questions which were all addressed properly with her timely assistance Besides, I felt very grateful towards my three participants, who were willing to spend time sharing information for my research They were

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all kind and supportive when I had to inquire their personal experiences Their participation was the key element to the accomplishment of my thesis Additionally, I want to pay my gratitude to Ms Hoang Thi Hanh, whose comments were extremely valuable to me when I was confused and puzzled about research topic at the beginning Her guidance made me become more confirmed and clearer about the research track to follow Last but not least, I highly appreciate my dear classmates and my family for constant encouragement and motivation

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ABSTRACT

The popularity of exchange programs or study abroad programs has been on an unprecedented increase My research investigated the intercultural experiences of participants in a relatively new type of exchange program – short term regional ones In addition, I looked at the perceived outcomes – their impacts on intercultural knowledge acquisition and attitude change as perceived by the participants themselves My research adopted the qualitative case study design where I selected three alumni of such programs who differed in terms of experience richness and program focus Using semi-structured interviews that encourage participants to critically reflect on their previous experience, the study revealed that the majority of intercultural experiences occurred during the program while pre-departure experiences were rarely accounted Typically, targeted programs did not hold any follow-up activities so my participants relined mostly on gained international relationship for post-event experiences For impacts of the programs, my participants gained significantly about social, historical, linguistic, cultural values and specialized knowledge On the other hand, attitudes changed both negatively and positively while the former exceeded the latter Unpredictably, the findings confirmed the necessity of reflection in making intercultural experiences meaningful and long-lasting

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND RATIONALE 1

1.2 SIGNIFICANCE 2

1.3 SCOPE 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 EXCHANGE PROGRAM 3

2.2 INTERCULTURAL EXPERIENCES OF SHORT TERM PROGRAM 6

2.2.1 Intercultural competence 6

2.2.2 The nature of intercultural experience 7

2.2.3 Types of cultural experiences 7

2.2.4 Sources of Intercultural experiences 8

Interpersonal interaction 8

Organized activities 9

Informal experiences 10

2.3 IMPACTS OF SHORT TERM PROGRAM ON PARTICIPANTS IN TERMS OF INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND ATTIDUES 10

2.3.1 The role of reflection intercultural learning 10

2.3.2 Intercultural knowledge gain and attitude change 11

2.3.3 Types of changes 13

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 16

3.2 SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS 16

3.2.1 Criteria for selection 16

3.2.2 My participants 16

3.3 DATA COLLECTION 17

3.4 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD: THEMATIC ANALYSIS 18

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 20

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4.1 OVERVIEW OF PARTICIPANTS’ EXPERIENCES IN THEIR EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

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4.2 FINDINGS 23

4.2.1 Research question 1: Intercultural experiences 23

4.2.2 Research question 2: Intercultural knowledge gain and attitude change 26

4.2.2.1 New intercultural knowledge 26

4.2.2.2 Attitude changes 30

4.2.3 Unexpected findings 32

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 38

5.1 FINDING SUMMARY 38

5.2 LIMITATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 38

5.3 CONCLUSION 39

REFERENCES 41

APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 47

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND RATIONALE

The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have witnessed unprecedented change as the scope and complexity of the international education have expanded and deepened exponentially This may be best represented in the dramatic rise in the mobility of students, academics and knowledge (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2007, as cited in Gu et al, 2010) Statistics on student mobility show that

in 2013, more than 4.1 million tertiary students studied outside their home countries compared to 2.8 million in 2005 – a 31% increase (UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, 2015) The Global Student Mobility 2025 report even predicts that the demand for international education will increase l to 7.2 million in 2025 (as cited in Gu et al, 2010)

Apart from traditional study abroad programs for students to pursue academic credits, there has been a newly formed product of international education – short term exchange programs Unlike other higher education courses, the short term programs’ duration usually does not exceed six months Although there is no specific statistics for this type of programs, several researchers such as Endes (2015); González; Mesanza and Mariel (2011); Williams and Baláž (2004) focused on investigating participants’ intercultural development or program’s effectiveness The problem is that most of the conducted research concentrates on well-known or prestigious programs like Aupair, Eramus Mundus or the ones specially designed to exchange students among outstanding universities in different nations Hence, little attention has been paid to regional forums – one type of arising international exchange programs specifically focusing on one topic and lasting from two days to two weeks Due to the short duration and variation of primary themes, those programs tend to be overlooked by researchers in terms of intercultural learning Regardless of the time limit, the purposes are stated to boost mutual understanding about cultural diversity The short term exchange program still claim to prepare participants for future intercultural communication by creating

a platform for cultural sharing and interaction From that, questions have been raised over the effectiveness in improving cultural understanding of the participants From the perspective of

an insider, who have participated in one regional forum, I also wonder about the cultural learning that participants acquired and what changes they underwent thanks to these programs Therefore, I will focus my research on the following two questions:

From exchange program alumni’s perspectives:

1.3 SCOPE

My research concentrated on the intercultural experiences of alumni from short term exchange programs in the South Asia There was no restriction against the number of programs but due to the limited time and resources, I only investigated three cases, which is a quite reasonable number for a multiple case study I researched the intercultural experiences and learning of alumni after returning home Therefore, I only analyzed the information that the participants remembered and shared in the interview Referring to knowledge acquisition and attitude change, I also only inspected what my informants noticed after joining the programs

is used in coursework on site, context of academic work, type of housing arrangements, provisions for guided cultural/experiential learning, and structured opportunities for students to reflect on their cultural experiences However, between “culture-based” international education and termed “knowledge-transfer” study abroad, Engle and Engle (2003) concern the latter

Regarding the duration, two main types of exchange programs are long term and short

term ones The former tends to focus more on professional knowledge during a period of about more than six months (He et al, 2017) It usually provides participants opportunities to stay and study in the host cultures long enough to finish pre-decided courses in the chosen field On the other hand, the latter primarily provides participants with contact with local cultures from two to eight weeks (Chan et al, 2018) Similarly, Ulvund et al (2017) specify the definition of targeted short term as a six-week program Medina-Lopez-Portillo (2004), who studied the connection between duration and the development of intercultural experiences, claimed that the longer students stayed immersed in a target culture, the more they learned and grew, and the more their intercultural sensitivity developed Though long-term programs remain a particularly valuable academic experience for which short term programs cannot be

a substitute Yet, should the goal be to increase cultural awareness and understanding, term programs may be an effective and practical option (Gaia, 2015) However, there is little literature on the short term programs with the range of two days to two weeks Therefore, my research addresses this gap by studying whether within these short-term exchange programs participants could gain some meaningful cultural experiences

short-Exchange programs also differ in their specialized fields To be more specific, each

program is usually designed for participants from a similar profession to improve

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intercultural skills needed for their field Take health care as one striking example Chan (2018) reported that nurses in China were required to be culturally competent to provide quality care to an increasingly diverse and ageing population International exchange programs were developed to support the traditional nursing curriculum The situation for Korean nursing students bears a strong resemblance since Choi and Kim (2018) realized that nursing students needed to provide service to patients from various cultural backgrounds This need also led to the implementation of International Clinical Placements in developing countries within undergraduate nursing programs (Ulvund et al, 2017) Similarly, exchange opportunities in one European nation were given to Swedish (Bohman & Borglin, 2014) and Dannish (Ruddock & Turner, 2007) nursing students in order to satisfy the demands of multicultural societies Another field accompanied by the popularity of short term programs is pre-service teacher education Hepple et al (2017) investigated the intercultural learning of Australian pre-service teachers participating in a short term mobility program in Malaysia while Pence and Macgillivray (2008) looked at teacher education students from the US who completed a 4-week international practicum in Rome, Italy After reviewing such programs, I found that short term exchange programs were usually designed for specific type of students

to gain intercultural skills in their chosen fields One the other hand, my targeted programs recruited participants from various majors because the priority particular topics such as environmental issue, equality in education or leadership

Last but not least, all exchange programs helped boosting the mutual understanding

through providing the cultural diversity Usually, the reviewed programs got participants

exposed to one new culture by living and learning in a foreign environment (the one about which they needed to know for their future working) Consequently, the participants were more likely to enhance intercultural competence related to their field and improve intercultural knowledge about their host culture Differently, my targeted short term programs are regional forums whose participants come from a number of nations In short period of time, the participants needed to learn about not only the host culture – the one they visited but also cultures of other participant thanks to culture-related or focused activities Specifically, my targeted programs claimed to increase interactions among participants of different countries by mixing the participants into groups of diverse nationalities Hence, a temporary multicultural environment was created for participants from different technical and cultural backgrounds throughout the program That means the participants could

Actually, intercultural competence had been researched for long time and framework had been built to measure it However, I aimed to look at intercultural experiences – a small part that potentially leads to development of intercultural competence Accordingly, a review

of elements constructing intercultural competence was helpful for me to investigate my

participants; intercultural experiences Deardorff (2006) tried to generate an institutional definition based on what constitutes intercultural competence She reviewed a number of available definitions to conclude that the top three common elements were the awareness, valuing, and understanding of cultural differences; experiencing other cultures; and self-awareness of one’s own culture Added to that, in her research in 2004, Deardorff gave the top-rated definition of intercultural competence as “the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes” (p 194) Skills would require meticulous monitoring and observation in order to provide meaningful results Therefore, I researched intercultural experiences concerned with knowledge like “Understanding of role and impact of culture and the impact of situational, social, and historical contexts involved” (p 13) and items related to attitudes like “cross-cultural empathy, openness, respect and curiosity” Similarly, Hammer (2015) wanted to find out factors that comprise cultural competence looking at the Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral paradigm (CAB) Intercultural competence was viewed “as a function of the extent and quality of the individual's engagement with cultural difference” under this developmental paradigm Out of three above aspects, because behavioral parts are difficult to testify, I only concerned the themes related to cognitive and attitude-affective parts Furthermore, Papadopoulos and Lees (2002) acknowledged cultural competence as an ongoing process and included four stages: cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity, cultural

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competence The first stage was when one’s own culture, personal value base and beliefs were examined and preconceived attitudes and prejudices were realized The second stage, cultural knowledge, meant knowledge of beliefs and behaviors as well as understanding of the problems of different cultural groups The third stage, cultural sensitivity, referred to the development of intercultural attitudes like empathy, solidarity, trust, acceptance and respect Lastly, cultural competence represented the synthesis of the preceding stages The second and the third given stage were be align with knowledge and attitudes respectively Therefore, instead of measuring the intercultural competence of exchange program alumni, I investigated the participation process - experiences and the outcomes with respect to intercultural knowledge and attitudes

2.2.2 The nature of intercultural experience

The term “intercultural experiences” has not been specifically defined and described although some researchers had mentioned it Dalib, Harun and Yusoff (2014), closely linked intercultural experiences to interactions with cultural others Also, Krishnasamy, Hussein and Dalib (2014) pinned intercultural interaction experiences to the verbal challenges in communicating with people from a different culture The definition of intercultural experience

‘encompasses both domestic and international contexts and implies cultures interacting’ (Landreman 2003, cited in King & Baxter Magolda 2005, p 572) Gu (2010) also argued that individuals might experience intercultural experiences when they were exposed to different cultural environments and in encounters with different people Thus, individuals may develop

‘proficiency in self-expression and in fulfilling their various social needs’ in the host culture (Kim, 2005, p 391) when confronted with conflicting values and beliefs Some researchers like Papadopoulos and Lees (2002), Hepple (2017) or Nguyen et al (2018) even connected intercultural experiences to their participants’ specialized knowledge and skills needed in international context From personal view, I inspected all international aspects of my targeted exchange programs based on the alumni’s sharing

2.2.3 Types of cultural experiences

Chan et al (2018) reviewed and produced a general structure of short term exchange

programs From their research, there were two main parts of one exchange program: departure and Organized activities Chan et al (2018) even mapped out the process and

Pre-learning outcomes of intercultural Pre-learning in a short international exchange program Their main focus was on the preparation phase like online sharing platform for participants to get to

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know organizers, peers as well as the host culture Such pre-departure activities created initial intercultural experiences or at least foundations for further intercultural experiences (see also Bohman & Borglin, 2014) Subsequent co-curricular activities and debriefing over intercultural workshops offered good opportunities for intercultural learning Hence it was emphasized that intercultural learning is not self-developed, and careful facilitation maximized intercultural learning To maximize intercultural learning, their findings recommended a harmonious combination of pre-departure preparation and supporting activities during the program Specifically, while pre-departure preparation might stimulate and promote intercultural awareness and sensitivity, co-curricular activities like workshops, field trips would maintain their intercultural learning

Besides, some researchers considered language as a crucial part of intercultural

experiences (Zotzmann, 2017, Krishnasamy et al, 2014) They all agreed that the challenges brought up by the language barrier could result in meaningful cultural encounters which might make ways for further developments in intercultural competence Therefore, I also paid attention to certain linguistic features or acknowledgement of any difficulties posed by foreign language

2.2.4 Sources of Intercultural experiences

Interpersonal interaction

Taylor (1994), who developed a model of intercultural competency, argues that

“befriending an intercultural other” offers sustained opportunity for intercultural experience

In particular, he drew on the capacity to construct and engage in relationships with others in ways that showed respect for and understanding of the other’s perspectives Pence and Macgillivray (2008) shared the same view by mentioning “interactions with people in host countries” as the way to understand other culture more effectively Eisenchlas and Trevaskes (2007) pointed out that cross-cultural group work helped the students internationalize their ability to communicate through cultures Hendrickson (2018) highlighted the time frame in which co-national, host national, and multi-national friendship transformations occur in a short-term context and considered multi-national friends as contributors to the micro-level environment factor ethnic group strength The results showed that multi-national friendship supported cross-cultural adaptation Moreover, Wearing and Grabowski (2011) claimed that

an important factor for intercultural learning was the degree of contact with the host community They even found out that 38% of YCA volunteers remained in contact with the

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host community upon return That means interaction with the host or participating cultures before, during or after the events would offer participants opportunities to comprehend their intercultural experiences Regarding conditions of effective interpersonal interaction, Yashima (2010) adopted one of the most influential theories relevant to intercultural contact including study abroad - the contact hypothesis This theory postulated intergroup contact led

to reduced intergroup prejudice if the contact situation embodied four conditions: (1) equal status between the groups in the situation; (2) groups sharing common goals; (3) no competition between the groups; and (4) authority support for the contact Besides, analysis

of Sias et al (2008) revealed four factors that respondents felt influenced the development of their intercultural friendship: targeted socializing, cultural similarities, cultural differences, and prior intercultural experience Results also indicated several ways in which communication both enabled and hindered the development of intercultural friendships, providing evidence of the uniqueness and complexity of communication in these relationships The point is that both Sias et al (2008) and Yashima (2010) shared the view on the important role of intercultural friendship The results of Yashima’s study (2010) indicated that those, who participated in the project, gained significantly with regard to intercultural approach tendency, interest in international affairs, interpersonal communication skills and self-efficacy, while their level of ethnocentrism decreased more than that of non-participants’ Sias et al (2008)’s findings said intercultural friendships represented an intimate intersection between personal and cultural aspects of communication processes Intercultural friendships were characterized by differences between individuals’ cultures that brought unique rewards as well as challenges Individuals had to negotiate differences in cultural values and languages, and overcome enduring stereotypes However, they also gained unique cultural knowledge, broadened their perspectives, and broke stereotypes Therefore, interpersonal interaction was one of the main sources for intercultural experiences of short term exchange program alumni

Organized activities

Besides, intercultural experiences came directly from organized activities of the exchange programs As reviewed, one of the main aims for targeted student exchange program was related to intercultural understanding, causing integration of cultural aspects into the majority of program’s activities With strong interest in the design of student exchange program, King and Baxter (2005) also claimed that the goals of organized activities

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were to engage students in exploring and gradually reformulating their cultural beliefs and perspectives Besides, Pence and Macgillivray (2008) reviewed recent empirical studies examining the quality and impact of short-term study abroad programs for teachers to conclude one of the core elements for intercultural development was cultural experiences However, they argued that experiences on its own does not always result in changes (new learning) so ‘scaffolding’ like the daily de-briefing sessions and group discussions and conversations were essential in helping the students make sense of their experiences

Informal experiences

Pence and Macgillivray (2008) also stated that cultural experiences included cultural site visits, homestay which implied that having contact with other cultures through travelling

or observing also provided meaningful or influential cultural learning experiences

All in all, the conclusion is that intercultural experiences could be traced back to interpersonal interactions, organized activities or even simply travelling to the place hosting new culture Accordingly, to answer the first research question, interview questions concentrated on those aspects of cultures exposed in short term exchange program to figure out the intercultural experiences of alumni

2.3 IMPACTS OF SHORT TERM PROGRAM ON PARTICIPANTS IN TERMS OF INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND ATTIDUES

2.3.1 The role of reflection intercultural learning

My research deals with the post program experience by asking participant to reflect back on their trips Hepple (2017) also indicated that reflecting on intercultural experiences was instrumental to intercultural development Dalib et al (2014) stated that researching experience was retrospective since it was a reflection of one's consciousness of the experience that one lived through Bosangit and Demangeot (2016) analyzed three different types of

reflection: emotional, critical and personal ones The events that triggered emotional accounts

tend to be of high emotional valence One of the main sources of emotion is the pressure caused by culture differences Gu (2010) found out that there were two major types of reactions to intercultural stress: psychological adjustment and sociocultural adaptation Hamel et al (2010) concluded that emotional reactions were central to the participants’ experiences of disequilibrium From emotional reactions, there were three dimensions of strategies of students to cultural disequilibrium: Stance, Sense-making and action My research only concerned the first two domains: Stance and Sense-making It was supposed

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that my participants had to be open to new things (stance) to have cultural learning

(sense-making) Referring to personal reflection, Hedberg's (2009) focuses on individuals'

perspective or personal insights gained, where they reflected on how they could apply what they learned and noted its impact on their own lives Bosangit and Demangeot (2016) researched the personal reflection of the bloggers who ‘push’ their reflection to the point

where they gained new perspectives or personal insights Besides personal reflection, critical

reflection is another “process of making evaluations, often moral ones, and not simply exercising judgments of a practical, technical nature” (Reynolds, 1998, p 189) The case study

of Jackson (2011) illustrated that a short-term sojourn had a significant impact on participants if critical reflection was embedded into the program and the individuals themselves were committed to enhancing their intercultural knowledge Nguyen (2018) even made use of reflective journals to identify participants’ reactions towards activities during the programs Usually, my targeted short term programs provided participants with new information about different cultures However, the information or experience gained through the program, were usually scattered That meant the participants possessed just bits and pieces of superficial knowledge about other cultures It was argued that intercultural encounters could even reinforce stereotypes and prejudices if participants were not supported with a means of reflecting productively on challenging elements of their overseas experience (Dockrill et al, 2015, Scoffham & Barnes, 2009; Tang & Choi, 2004) Therefore, they needed deep reflection on such specific cultural knowledge to create the general understanding or attitude transformation (McAllister et al, 2006)

2.3.2 Intercultural knowledge gain and attitude change

To date, research has been done to evaluate the effectiveness of exchange programs in developing the intercultural competence (Chan, Liu, Fung, Tsang, and Yuen, 2018; He et al, 2017; Hepple, 2017) or the general impacts of such exchange program (Ulvund et al, 2017) Hepple et al (2017) also noted that directly interacting and building relations with people across cultures (experience) developed empathetic intercultural viewpoints (attitudes) From that research, intercultural understanding was conceptualized as three interrelated elements: recognizing culture and developing respect; interacting and empathizing with others; and reflecting on intercultural experiences and taking responsibility All three listed elements were combination of both intercultural knowledge and attitudes Hamel et al (2010) focused especially on learning strategies and processes that pre-service teachers relied upon to

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navigate initial cultural difference to clarify the connection between experiences and intercultural competence Gill (2007) saw process of intercultural learning as intercultural adaptation Such adaptation has the potential to bring about profound changes in overseas students themselves, transforming their understanding of the learning experience, self-knowledge, awareness of the “other”, and values and worldview Their participant not only adjusted attitudes of self and others but also learned to fit in to the given cultural and educational framework through engaging in socio-cultural and academic practices (knowledge) However, above research papers stuck to certain fields like teaching or nursing, which lacked comprehensive view about the influences of exchange programs on intercultural knowledge and attitudes Therefore, my research focused on intercultural experiences with little stress on participants’ specialized fields

Taylor (1994, p 158) believed that the process of becoming interculturally competent was related to the concept of perspective transformation Such transformation or revised interpretation of cultural ways is the result of attempts to understand a different culture with customs that contradicts the previously accepted presupposition (Mezirow, 1991) Added to that, Taylor (1994) also pointed out that perspective transformation was also a process of questioning basic psycho-cultural assumptions and habitual expectations By examining why and how such preconceptions constrained the way of seeing oneself and others, could result

in altered perspectives Therefore, with intercultural experience, participants’ perspectives underwent certain changes by recognizing different aspects of other cultures Likewise, Gaia (2015) found that short-term exchange program was transformative because students viewed these experiences as life-changing, much as they did long-term ones In another words, they began to see themselves as part of a larger whole, and came to understand that the world extends beyond county, state, regional, and national boundaries This is as they adapted to the new environment, they gradually noticed that they either consciously or subconsciously, become one of the others (Gu, Schweisfurth & Day, 2010) Gu et al (2010) also explored the complexities of international students’ transitional experiences in terms of their intercultural adaptation within a different educational environment and a different culture and society The research findings challenged the notion that international students’ intercultural adaptation was linear and passive as well as pointing to the presence of a complex set of shifting associations between language mastery, social interaction, personal development and academic outcomes It was said that the extent of change and adaptation of Gu et al (2010)’s participants was influenced by their interactions with others and the current educational and

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societal environments which they experienced Similarly, I also looked at interpersonal interaction and informal experience to investigate the changes noticed by my participants after exchange program Yet, I did not probe into interaction between participants and institutions or educational environment because my targeted program was relatively short and mainly in form of a youth forum On the other hand, I categorized experiences with societal environment as informal ones so that my participants would share their experiences outside the program’s context

of other cultures in the global scene However, there are negative influence that they learned less about accepting cultural differences and acknowledging interdependence with others Otherwise, Ulvund et al (2017) stated that whether intercultural influences were negative or not, depended partly on individuality The experiences of short-termed program might force

an ongoing process of developing cultural competency that continued after the students returned home Accordingly, the impacts of short term programs on attitudes and knowledge would not be similar for every participant and every stage

Differently, several researchers strongly supported the bright side of intercultural

exchange programs Scoffham and Barnes (2009) researched on the impact of intercultural through investigating participant’s experiences The experiences were named transformational since the findings showed that powerful experiences within a framework of

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clearly articulated values led to learning on a number of different levels – cognitive, social, emotional and existential Their analysis indicated that three categories: Preparing to go abroad, Reasons for going abroad and From expectation to experience could be seen to illustrate their perception and experience of student exchange In their descriptive paper, exchange programs were found to increase cultural awareness and understanding of underlying behavior, attitudes and beliefs beyond the student’s own view of the world Choi and Kim (2018), similarly, in their research about the influence of cultural experiences on intercultural development of nursing student, confirmed that experiences with other cultures involving staying in a foreign region had positive influences on students’ intercultural competences or in other words positive changes in their attitudes towards other cultures Dalib et al (2014), who investigated intercultural experiences to reconceptualize intercultural competence, had observed the two themes of positive changes: acquiring cultural understanding and respecting cultural differences Other research also showed that intercultural experience was a transformative learning process which led to a journey of personal growth and development (Adler 1975; Anderson 1994; Byrnes 1965; Furnham 2004,

as cited in Gu, 2010) Moreover, Yashima (2010) revealed the positive aspects of intercultural programs since he agreed that intercultural contact reinforced enhanced their intercultural competence Effects of exchange programs on developing intercultural competence including improvement of open non-ethnocentric attitudes toward different cultures were confirmed Cheng (2014) also found that students strongly believed the greatest benefits of taking part in short-term study-abroad programs were related to enhancing their personal development (see also Ruddock & Turner, 2007) Professional and academic enhancement, by contrast, was less valued Specifically, the personal development of his participants referred to several intercultural aspects like learning about host culture or other cultures from international friends or making international relationships In short, recent studies explained that students could improve their intercultural awareness by means of exchange programs (İlter, 2016) Such positive reactions were intercultural sensitivity, cultural understanding, openness, tolerance, stereotype reductions as well as language learning

On the contrary, there are opponents against those affirmative conclusions Dockrill, Rahatzad and Phillion (2015), questioned the positive impacts on participants’ intercultural understanding by pointing out the likelihood of stereotypes being reinforced Scoffham and Barnes (2009) also exposed the possibility that the participants fail to change their thinking It was perhaps inevitable that people responded to experiences in different ways; some might

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incorporate in a positive way while others backslided or refused to change Amongst Scoffham and Barnes‘ (2009) study groups, a few individuals appeared unaffected by the experiences they were having They were unwilling to take on board new ideas perhaps because they were simply too disrupting to their existing conceptual framework and triggered denial or paralysis responses

To conclude, changes in attitude transformation and knowledge acquisition could take any directions of either strengthening preconceptions, reversing them or even being unaffected

Supporting factors

McAllister et al (2006) said that some of their participants expressed special focus on particular issues like environmental dimension of culture shock, challenging stereotypes, personal coping strategies, negotiating intercultural communication Particularly, they mentioned the impact of being in a radically different environment on their participants in both terms of physical and interpersonal dimension Added to that, Medina-Lopez-Portillo (2004)’s data provided support for a hypothesis that duration of study abroad programs plays

a key role in the development of intercultural sensitivity Moreover, Wearing and Grabowski (2011) investigated the cultural learning of volunteer tourism participants concluded that the top three motivations were personal development (88%), to discover a different culture/environment (64%) and to help a community (48%) From such statistics, it was shown that personal desire for learning and improving played a crucial role in making intercultural exchange programs meaningful My targeted programs provided scholarship accompanied by careful selection process so individuals had to demonstrate their interests, ability or determination to get accepted

Disturbing factors

Keles (2013) had reviewed seven main barriers in intercultural communication: anxiety, assuming similarities instead of differences, ethnocentrism, stereotypes, prejudice, language, nonverbal communication Looking at those main barriers, he could identify the attitudes and beliefs of international students to Turkey after an exchange program

In conclusion, there were different types of recorded impacts of intercultural experiences on exchange program participants’ intercultural learning The changes could be positive, negative or neutral after short term exchange programs Such changes would be influenced by different factors

from both personal or organizational levels

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

This study applies a qualitative case study design, which provides the capacity to explore in-depth the experiences and perspectives of individual participants in context and through careful reflection

3.2 SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS

3.2.1 Criteria for selection

Participants in this study have to meet the following requirements:

 The nationality is Vietnamese

 Participants need to have experience of at least one international exchange program

In case, they attended more than one, the interview questions were applied for all the programs, which fit the criteria of targeted ones

 Chosen participants must join the programs as undergraduates or fresh graduates

 They have relatively recent experience with the targeted exchange program

 They are willing to participate in data collection

With the above criteria, I also wanted to guarantee the diversity and uniqueness of each case Hence I contacted three participants with different level of experience richness: first-time short term exchange program participation, multiple-time short term exchange program participation, multiple-time short term and long term exchange program participation

3.2.2 My participants

My participants include two undergraduates and one fresh graduate The first participant is Helen (pseudonym), who has just come back from one international exchange program in Singapore This was also her first time to travel abroad to join this kind of program Another participant is Thomas, a young social worker who is passionate about joining short-term international forums He has rich experience from six different international short-term exchange programs hosted in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines The third participant is Tina, another university student who gained prosperous experiences of seven exchange programs including two long term and five short term ones

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I chose the above participants according to the diversity level of their experiences so that a more comprehensive view about the research questions could be produced Helen provided the research with fresh memory as well as the excitement of first-time participation, which gave a lot of space for attitude changing Thomas and Tina might draw from their broader, richer experiences in a variety of programs to make comparison and evaluation Such diversity among the chosen cases helps prevent this study from becoming an evaluation

of one specific exchange program

3.3 DATA COLLECTION

3.3.1 Pilot

Before finalizing the interview questions, preliminary data was collected to test the interview questions as well as the richness of collected information One fourth-year university student was chosen to be pilot interviewed She had participated twice in Youth Lead, a 10-day exchange program in Thailand and her second trip ended five months prior The interview lasted approximately 30 minutes It was a face-to-face interview when the participant shared directly her experience

After carefully analyzing the collected data, I realized the first version of the interview questions seems a bit leading, which restricted the interviewee from naturally sharing about her experiences and did not give enough space for discussing her reservations and perceived negative aspects Although the collected data could answer both of research questions, it reveals only the positive sides of the programs, which might be due to the wording of the interview questions

3.3.2 Modification

After the pilot interview, I decided to modify my interview questions to allow more freedom for the interviewees to share their stories With the previous list of questions, I only investigated the emerging cultural aspects and did not enable enough deep reflection on the beliefs and perspectives constructed by the participants Therefore, I decided it would be more productive to focus the interview on four main points: interpersonal interaction, organized activities, informal cultural experiences Added to that, the data collected should not be biased toward either the positive or the negative impacts Hence, to make sure that the participants would not be hindered from sharing, the questions were redesigned to be more open to participants’ experiences (Appendix 1)

3.3.3 Interview

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Data was collected through in-depth face-to-face or online interview by means of semi-structured questions In this case, semi-structured means that some questions are pre-formulated and asked of every interview participant while other questions varied based on the specific background and experience of the given participant as well as the context of the particular interview I applied this type of interview due to the findings of McAllister et al (2006) that intercultural learning is a highly complex phenomenon which is best understood through structured as well as unstructured reflective processes Consequently, my interview questions combined these two processes Moreover, my study’s context was where exchange programs just provided participants with opportunities to gain intercultural experiences but little chance to reflect The semi-structured interviews functioned as an opportunity for participants to comprehensively and systematically reflect on their experience to figure out the transformation in their attitudes Hence, this type of data collection helped not only me to reach the targeted data but also to boost intercultural learning of individual participant The interview ranged from thirty minutes to two hours, during which the interviewees were encouraged to reflect at length on their experience This process has been advocated by researchers such as Gill (2007) for its potential to provide insights into intercultural learning process

Questions about background information about the program were given to the participants in order to get information about some official websites or documents as well as an overview of activities Apart from activity description and opinion sharing, participants were asked to self-reflect and describe any changes they noticed after joining the programs

Regarding the language for interviewing, English was used to gather information from interviewees The reason for this was that all the international exchange programs the alumni attended required English as an obligatory criterion so the English proficiency of the participants was guaranteed not to affect their meaning conveying

3.4 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD: THEMATIC ANALYSIS

To analyze data, this research adopted the steps of thematic analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006)

3.4.1 Transcribing

After interviewing each candidate, the interviews were transcribed Since there are no fixed rules for transcription, and the format of transcription is often decided by individual researchers according to the intended use (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009), the research applied

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word-by-word transcription in order to make analyzing process easier and avoid missing information

3.4.2 Generating initial coding and searching for themes

After finishing transcribing the data, sub-themes relevant to research question were

generated This was a part of analyzing since data was organized into meaningful groups

(Tuckett, 2005) To produce such subthemes, I used both deductive and inductive coding It was because themes and patterns were not only established based on the exploration of the qualitative data (Braun & Clarke, 2006) but also based on the synthesis of available literature

For deductive coding, I synthesized a list of sub-themes from literature review With the literature review and modification of pilot interview, the data was collected through three main themes: interpersonal interaction, organized activities and informal experiences However, to fully comprehend and make sense of such information, it was crucial to generate more meticulous and smaller subthemes

For research question one about intercultural experiences, I categorized them into three main stages: Pre - While - Post With those phase, I could give more detail description of reported experiences in a systematic way

Research question two was about knowledge gaining and attitude changing The former was about recognizing cultural differences since distinction stimulated interests in engaging in cross-cultural conversations (Chan et al, 2018; Krishnasamy et al, 2014) Deardorff (2006) emphasized the impact of situational, social, and historical contexts on cultural understanding, driving me to add social and historical knowledge to the subtheme list Moreover, linguistic features were crucial encounters for participants to undergo (Zotzmann, 2017; Krishnasamy et al, 2014) Besides, the literature suggested such attitude changes as empathy, solidarity, trust, acceptance and respect (Papadopoulos & Lees, 2002) Additionally, Deardorff (2006) built up a framework of intercultural competence mentioning several items related to attitudes like cross-cultural empathy, openness, respect and curiosity Therefore, I would take such terms as references in constructing my coding schemes

3.4.3 Reviewing themes and naming themes

Once deductive coding was finished, I reviewed the data to remove or add relevant sub-themes The flexibility of thematic analysis allowed determining themes in a number of ways but I consciously made myself aware of the importance of being consistent