SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Capstone Collection SIT Graduate Institute Spring 5-17-2016 Destination Choice in Study Abroad Courtney Smith SIT Graduate Institute Follow this and additional works at:https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones Part of theBilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, and theInternational and Comparative Education Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Courtney, "Destination Choice in Study Abroad" (2016).Capstone Collection. 2899. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/2899 This Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Graduate Institute at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Capstone Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Running Head: CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD Courtney Smith SIT Graduate Institute PIM 74 A capstone paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts in International Education at SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. May 16, 2016 Advisor: Karla Giuliano Sarr CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD Consent to Use Capstone I hereby grant permission for World Learning to publish my capstone on its websites and in any of its digital/electronic collections, and to reproduce and transmit my CAPSTONE ELECTRONICALLY. I understand that World Learning’s websites and digital collections are publicly available via the Internet. I agree that World Learning is NOT responsible for any unauthorized use of my capstone by any third party who might access it on the Internet or otherwise. Student name: Courtney Smith Date: 5/17/2016 CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................... 4 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................ 4 Definitions ................................................................................................................................... 6 Existing Research ......................................................................................................................... 7 Inquiry Design ............................................................................................................................... 11 Data Collection Methods........................................................................................................... 13 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 14 Survey. ................................................................................................................................... 14 Focus group ........................................................................................................................... 15 Interviews .............................................................................................................................. 16 Limitations ................................................................................................................................. 17 Ethics ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Presentation and Analysis of Data ................................................................................................ 18 Student Characteristics ............................................................................................................. 19 Relationship Factors .................................................................................................................. 23 Push Factors .............................................................................................................................. 26 Pull Factors ................................................................................................................................ 33 Discussion...................................................................................................................................... 36 Language ability and study .................................................................................................... 37 Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 38 University policies and study abroad structure ..................................................................... 38 Academic environment in host country ................................................................................ 39 Cultural environment in host country ................................................................................... 40 Previous or desired travel ...................................................................................................... 40 Financial considerations ........................................................................................................ 40 Practical Applicability ................................................................................................................ 41 Recommendations for Further Research .................................................................................. 43 CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................. 45 Appendix A: Student Online Survey .............................................................................................. 47 Appendix B: Interview and Focus Group Questions ..................................................................... 53 Appendix C: Consent Form ........................................................................................................... 55 Appendix D: Survey Results .......................................................................................................... 56 Appendix E: Focus Group Participants .......................................................................................... 57 Appendix F: University Preapproved Programs Statistics and List ............................................... 58 CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD List of Tables Table 1: Research Participants ...................................................................................................... 12 List of Figures Figure 1: Survey Results, Personal Factors ................................................................................... 20 Figure 2: Survey Results, Relationship Factors ............................................................................. 24 Figure 3: Survey Results, Push Factors ......................................................................................... 28 Figure 4: Survey Results, Pull Factors ........................................................................................... 34 CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD List of Abbreviations COL: College of Letters (a major department) IIE: Institute of International Education IRB: Institutional Review Board OSA: Office of Study Abroad SIT: School for International Training UK: United Kingdom CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD 1 ABSTRACT The most popular destinations for U.S. undergraduate study abroad are the United Kingdom (UK), Italy, Spain, and France, hosting 37.5% of all students who studied abroad in 2013-2014, with approximately 2-6% increases in each of those countries over the previous year (IIE, 2016). Despite world events and changing international relations interests, the majority of U.S. students continue to choose traditional destinations in study abroad. Using a factor analysis approach, this study seeks to determine which factors play the most significant role in undergraduate student destination choice for study abroad. The results from this study indicate that the most important factors for students in making their destination choice are language ability and study, recommendations, university policies and study abroad structure, the academic environment in the host country, the cultural environment in the host country, previous or desired travel, and financial considerations. Increased awareness of the factors that students at this east coast liberal arts university consider most when planning their study abroad may aid study abroad advisors to better assist students in planning their undergraduate study abroad experience. CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD 2 Introduction As an undergraduate student who studied abroad in Japan and had friends going to a wide range of locations, I believed that undergraduates studying abroad chose a wide variety of countries around the world, and that the Eurocentric focus in study abroad was an antiquated idea. Upon enrolling in the International Education program at SIT and reading the Open Doors (2000-2014) report (a report about study abroad), for the first time, however, I quickly realized my assumptions were incorrect; in fact, Europe remains the main study abroad destination of choice by a wide margin. I instantly began to wonder what motivates students to choose Europe in such overwhelming numbers. As illustration, the Open Doors Report (IIE, 2016) shows that the United Kingdom (UK), Italy, Spain, and France are the top four destinations, hosting 37.5% of all students who studied abroad in 2013-2014, with approximately 2-6% increases over the previous year (IIE, 2016). Returning to reflect upon my junior year abroad, I recalled the reason I personally chose my destination of Japan was due to a long-standing fascination with how different the culture is from Western culture, as well as anticipating the amount of job prospects that knowing Japanese would open to me. As an International Studies major, I also knew I would be able to complete coursework at my school abroad that would allow me to graduate on time despite studying abroad for a full academic year. I assumed that my peers chose study abroad destinations due to world events, career opportunities, or political and economic relevance of the region, because that is what my immediate group of friends and I did. After a year at SIT, I went on to work as a study abroad advisor at a medium-sized, private, east coast liberal arts university as my practicum site. I expected at least a third of the CAPSTONE: DESTINATION CHOICE IN STUDY ABROAD 3 students that coming through our office to be going abroad to East Asia, especially due to the rising number of Asian students studying in the U.S. and my perceived increase in interest of studying Chinese by U.S. students. My university has a reputation of being “different,” and although I had read the Open Doors report, I assumed the study abroad numbers would reflect the uniqueness of my institution. While my university sends 100-200 students abroad per semester, I only advised 3-4 students wishing to study abroad in East Asia in my first semester working there. From 2000-2014, in fact, only 10% of students at this university went abroad to Asia, and 47% went to traditional destinations (XXX1, 2014). This led me to further wonder what was motivating students to choose their destinations, because my assumptions based on the university’s reputation were incorrect. After learning about the Critical Language Scholarship from one of my coworkers and later researching the scholarship in order to apply, I realized the U.S. does not produce enough language speakers to meet government and Foreign Service needs, and students are not choosing to study in locations that would allow them to obtain the cultural competencies necessary to fill this need in the Near East and South and Central Asia. This further led me to wonder what was pulling students to Western Europe despite such explicit need for young people to gain cultural competencies and language skills from other parts of the world. This paper will address this curiosity by examining reasons students choose their destinations at this university. 1 Author masked to protect the identity of my research site and participants as commensurate with ethical considerations.