Personal growth and intercultural awareness development through studying abroad: The case of American university students in Morocco
Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2023, 18(01), 708–715
Publication history:
Received on 07 March 2023; revised on 14 April 2023; accepted on 17 April 2023
Abstract:
The world has been greatly influenced by globalization which inspires many students around the world to study abroad. Learning has no barriers and new education standards recognize the importance of venturing towards new environments, exploring different cultures and breaking misrepresentations. Existing theoretical models related to the field of intercultural learning have demonstrated the significance of studying abroad in enhancing the students’ awareness at various levels. The current paper is an attempt to investigate the impact of such experience in Morocco on a group of American university students who spent one-year learning content courses and practicing Modern Standard Arabic. Based on convenience sampling, 23 American study abroad students have been invited to take part in this study and respond to a survey containing 27 items. Students’ answers were collected before and after completing the experience in Morocco. A likert scale served to get feedback for quantitative statistics while qualitative data has been obtained via semi-structured interviews, conducted with 5 volunteers. All the data gathered was meant to help answer three research questions, namely
· What are the challenges American study abroad students faced while studying in Morocco?
· What is the impact of the study abroad experience on the students’ language learning and personal growth?
· What are the factors that enhance the students’ intercultural awareness?
The data analysis and interpretation revealed that the experience had a significant contribution to the students’ language growth, personal development, intercultural awareness, and professional enhancement.
Keywords:
Study abroad; Experience; Environment; Arabic language; Intercultural awareness
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Copyright © 2023 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0