The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics

SStudy Abroad

JANE JACKSON

As a consequence of globalization and the push for internationalization on campuses across the globe, the number of students who choose to study outside their home country for all or part of their tertiary education has increased significantly. Nearly five million higher education students now gain some form of international educational experience each year, up from 1.3 million in 1990 (ICEF Monitor, 2015; IEE, 2017).

Some students join “year abroad” or semester‐long exchange programs or do full degrees in their host country; an even greater number take part in short‐term sojourns, ranging from four to seven weeks, or micro‐sojourns lasting three weeks or less. To complicate matters, the term “study abroad” may be defined in numerous ways. Within the United States, it generally refers to “a subtype of Education Abroad that results in progress toward an academic degree at a student's home institution,” excluding “the pursuit of a full academic degree at a foreign institution” (Forum on Education Abroad, 2011, p. 12). In European contexts, this form of education abroad is known as “credit mobility” (European Commission, 2015).

Students opt to study abroad for diverse reasons. Some aim to enhance their second language proficiency and gain firsthand exposure to elements of the host culture, as in the traditional “junior year‐abroad” programs that were popular several decades ago. To fulfill a degree requirement in their home institution, students may take ...