Describing Undergraduate Students' Intercultural Learning through Study Abroad in Terms of Their ‘Cultural Responsiveness'

Abstract

Although student international exchange programs commonly claim to facilitate participants' intercultural competence, questions remain as to how this competence might be adequately and validly assessed. In this article, the notion of Cultural Responsiveness is used to assist in interpreting and categorizing students' experiences and intercultural learning through study abroad programs. Data on the Australian undergraduate student participants' unique backgrounds, experiences and perceptions was collected after they had completed an exchange program in Switzerland or France. Using the Cultural Responsiveness categorization developed through this study, three parameters of students' intercultural experiences emerged: Awareness, Engagement and Bringing Knowledge Home. Using these three parameters, this article proposes that the notion of Cultural Responsiveness provides a useful method for identification of students' responses to the experiences of study abroad programs.