Impact of Study Abroad Experiences
Research Purpose and Overview
Studying abroad is an experience that many students aspire to attain. While some intend to expand their career goals, others embrace such opportunities to travel and explore. This paper presents an analysis of the article “Lasting Impact of Study Abroad Experiences: A Collaborative Autoethnography” by Jordana Garbati and Nathalie Rothschild which describes the authors’ experience in the study abroad and the lasting impacts it had on their career and second language acquirement. The article sought to describe the experience and impacts of studying abroad on language acquisition. In this regard, the thesis statement was the impacts of studying abroad experiences on the initial interest in, and continued involvement with, French as a second language (FSL) education.
Methods and Research
The research was qualitative and the authors used CAE (collaborative autoethnography) approach. The methodology was identified as an emerging one and appropriate for researchers who work in the community to collect autobiographical materials and interpret their data collectively (Garbati & Rothschild, 2016). This approach was appropriate since the authors were the sources of data and featured their own experiences while they studied in France, as Canadian citizens. This method allowed for personal contributions to the data set (Garbati & Rothschild, 2016). It also involved the collaboration of ideas and examining the similarities and differences in the authors’ experiences. The research employed a causal-comparative study design that seeks to compare dependable and undependable variables following an event occurrence. The authors sought to determine whether the variables affected the outcomes by comparing their experiences.
Conclusions, Limitations, and Future Research
While the authors compared their narratives to generate the study, they concluded that study abroad indeed has great impacts on one’s future career and decisions about education. Accordingly, the authors’ experience influenced their empathy of the French language, cultural perception, and enhancement of their identity (Garbati & Rothschild, 2016). Further, although they studied in different cities and periods, the career path they chose later was almost identical. Further, although students aspire to study abroad for various reasons, there are shared ambitions. For instance, the authors later pursued French language teaching after studying abroad which paved the way for their meeting (Garbati & Rothschild, 2016). In this regard, it is logical to assume that studying in the French manipulated the two participants into developing an interest to study the language further.
A major limitation of this study is that conclusions were only based on the two authors’ experiences. The study did not involve more participants who would produce initiate different results by their various experiences and hence, it was biased. While the research was successful, the authors suggest a need for future research. Additional research in CAE and study abroad could be reinforced to achieve better results. Moreover, while the research only compared the experience of two individuals, it could be enhanced using participants who have studied recently abroad (Garbati & Rothschild, 2016). Such students are also encouraged to engage in collaborative autoethnography to contribute to further research and also enhance their personal growth.
Original Summary
The authors of “Lasting Impact of Study Abroad Experiences” article, Jordana F. Garbati and Nathalie Rothschild, sought to analyze the impacts that studying abroad had on their personal development and career lives. The two collaborated and composed narratives that led to this article which sought to answer their research question (“How to have our respective study abroad experiences influenced our initial interest in, and continued involvement with, French as a second language education?)” (Garbati & Rothschild, 2016). They were determined to assess how such an experience would influence their initial aspirations in the career docket. The researchers being Canadian citizens studied French as a second language in France at various time frames. The study was qualitative and used collaborative autoethnography (CAE) approach where participants exchanged ideas through personal narrative writing (Garbati & Rothschild, 2016). As a result, the causal-comparative study design was employed to allow comparison of dependable and undependable variables. While the study involved only two participants as both the subject and sources of data, this posed as a limitation since a comparison of more participants’ experience could lead to different results. However, the research allowed for further study based on recent students’ experience to compare the results.
Original Analysis
Humanities article differ from Sciences articles in various ways. Humanities articles are based on social sciences while Sciences articles are based on naturals sciences. In this regard, humanity articles conform largely to an investigative approach whereby search is augmented in numerous confiscated knowledge clusters (Jaffe, 2014). Knowledge is majorly retrieved from novels and hence the need to do the following is limited. Contrary, Sciences article depends largely on an investigative approach where large knowledge clusters and a following of past research are paramount (Jaffe, 2014). Consequently, trend following is highly regarded in science articles than in humanities articles.
Another difference lies in the ‘open-access publishing’. Studies suggest that science articles have long-term impacts beyond their publication. When a researcher discovers a possible solution to a certain challenge like the cure for a disease, other researchers mutually agree that the publication is freely available to pave way for further research. While the publications trend freely, the owners gain an opportunity to secure patent rights and hence commercialize on the exploitation of such study (Jaffe, 2014). Contrary, humanities articles pose no hopes for commercial gains to the researchers. Such articles tend to reach their end on publication and the opportunity for further research is not guaranteed (Jaffe, 2014). This explains why humanity researchers have relaxed in trending their studies. Additionally, humanities articles have their research based on critical and analytical approaches while science articles assume a scientific approach (Jaffe, 2014). In this regard, humanities articles dwell more on philosophy while scientific research depends largely on facts.
Science and humanity articles have some differences as well as similarities in the manner of their conclusions. A science article comments on the authenticity of the findings and results achieved while for humanity, the facts are just restated. In a science article, the concluding paragraph provides suggestions for future research while in humanity articles, the need for future research is limited (Jaffe, 2014). However, in both types of articles, any possible limitation of the study is mentioned in the conclusion. Further, if the study a thesis statement, it is restated in both articles and the conclusion is purposed to summarize the whole article.
Generally, studying abroad impacts greatly the professional and social lives of the students. “Lasting Impact of Study Abroad Experiences: A Collaborative Autoethnography” article presents a real-life experience of the authors – by Jordana Garbati and Nathalie Rothschild. The experience’s impacts are evidenced by the later change of career of the authors based on the interests they developed from learning a second language from the origin land. CAE (collaborative autoethnography) approach was applied in the production of the article which allowed the authors to compare their experiences. The paper has also compared humanity and science articles. Humanity articles are more of a psychological nature, unlike the mostly factual science ones.
References
Garbati, J. F., & Rothschild, N. (2016, March). Lasting impact of study abroad experiences: A collaborative autoethnography. In Forum qualitative sozialforschung/forum: Qualitative social research (Vol. 17, No. 2).
Jaffe, K. (2014). Social and natural sciences differ in their research strategies, adapted to work for different knowledge landscapes. PloS one, 9(11).