Community Building: Study Abroad and the Small German Program

Abstract

Study abroad is often treated in terms of individual student outcomes, and has recently been discussed as potentially detrimental to smaller language programs—in that student participation in semester‐ or year‐long programs subtracts from enrollments in upper‐level courses. In this article, the promotion of study abroad in a small German program is presented as community‐building that can help to enhance and sustain small college programs by strengthening the community of German‐speakers and others interested in German on campus and abroad.