Study abroad can be a rich learning experience, but students often need encouragement to push their boundaries and process their experiences. The Reflective Model of Intercultural Competence is a methodology to facilitate this learning. This presentation discusses the experiences in applying it to the short-temr and semeter-long study abroad experiences and provides suggestions for others to implement the model.

1. Transforming the Study Abroad
Through the Reflective Model of
Intercultural Competency
J
Dr. Tracy Williams Rundstrom, Center for International Studies
Dr. Beata M. Jones, Neeley School of Business & John V. Roach Honors College

2. ORIGINS / MOTIVATION

3. • Intercultural Competence does not occur
simply as a result of being abroad.
• Students need:
– Direction
– Intentionality
– Feedback
– Reflection

4. THE MODEL

5. • Qualitative approach to assess study abroad
Williams, Tracy Rundstrom. 2009. The reflective model of intercultural
competency: a multidimensional, qualitative approach to study abroad
assessment. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, Vol.
18, 289 – 306.
• Pedagogy to develop intercultural
competencies

6. • Cultural Self-Awareness
• Knowledge of Host Culture
• Empathy
• Intercultural Communication
• Curiosity
• Openness / Flexibility
AAC&U Rubric Link

7. (Williams 2013, 2009, Kolb 1984)
Reflection
Interactive
Experience
Mindset / Attitude
Integration
Assessment

8. • Curriculum intended to:
– Facilitate engagement in the host culture
– Promote reflection on cultural learning
– Document learning
• Student Outcomes
– Develop intercultural competencies
– Articulate their learning
– Recognize the transferability

9. APPLICATIONS

10. • UNPR 20201 – required
• 8 weeks long
• Face-to-face time at beginning and mid-term

11. • Three-week non-credit experience through
– Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic
• Designed by faculty AND students
• Intended to Satisfy Cultural Vision Honors
College Requirements
• Focused on implementing the
Reflective Model of Intercultural
Competency
– Initial model exposure at home
– Ongoing model exposure while abroad
• Activities, Dinner Conversation Prompts, Daily Blog
Entries
– Post-trip model exposure through photo contest

12. MODALITIES

13. • Written journal
• Blogs
• Discussions with faculty

14. • What have you discovered is part of American
culture, that you had not realized
before? What did you think was just “normal”
which is actually cultural?
• Share a saying, proverb, or motto from your
host culture. How and when do they use it?
What insight does it give you?

15. • Ask 1 or 2 locals how they perceive Americans.
What assumptions do they have about
American people? How do they think
Americans are different from themselves?
What did or didn’t surprise you?

16. • What previously held stereotypes - yours and
theirs - do you find being challenged?
• What have you had the most trouble adapting
to? Have you finally adapted to it, or do you
believe you’ll never adapt to it?

17. • Interactive assignment
• Game
• Course-related site-visits and activities
• Life abroad

18. • Ask a few locals: What makes you proud to be
where you are from?
• Go to the market, or to a shop or store and
speak with a vendor. How long have they
been selling the product? How did they gain
expertise in the product? What would like
tourists to know about the product?

19. • Ask someone about what they are proud of in
Krakow: ______________________ What
makes it special to the person?
_____________________________________
____________________________ What do
tourists not understand about it?
_____________________________________
_________________ (30 pts)

20. • Photo contest
• Photo assignment, responding to prompt
• Example submission

21. Category Learning Outcome Prompts (explain / describe how
photo demonstrates category)
Example Photos
Inspirational
Insights
(Cultural
Knowledge)
How did seeing sites, taking excursions, and exploring the locale
help you better understand the country’s people, history,
religion, politics, or culture?
Monuments, important
sites
Local Life
(Flexibility)
What was local life like? How did you adapt yourself to be
comfortable with the locals?
Student in homestay,
student in local cultural
activities
Captivated by
Culture
(Curiosity)
What did you find intriguing, unexpected or even shocking
about the people and their culture? What did you learn?
Markets, crowds, new
sights
Finding your
Footing
(Skills )
What did you do to stretch yourself? What new skills and
characteristics did you develop?
Using maps, new
transportation, engaging
with locals, taking trips
This is Study
Abroad
(Growth)
What made the experience amazing, transformational,
authentic, and YOURS?
Volunteering, Interning,
Teaching, the New You

22. • Take a photo of an iconic image. Ask a few
locals: what makes this special to you? What
do tourists not understand about this? What
are the social, historical, environmental, and /
or economic factors contributing to or
resulting from this?

23. When walking the streets of Warsaw, one may
see pedestrians wandering the streets, pass
crowded parking lots, hearing the grumbling
of the buses as they snake through the city.
But simply being in the environment doesn’t
help one grasp the nature of the city and its
violent history. It takes a degree of
exploration to understand. Here, at the
Pawiak Prison at the edge of Warsaw, sits the
tree that tells of the violent crimes committed
by the Nazis within the prison. Posted on the
tree are some of the obituaries of those
murdered on the once-violent grounds.
However, one could never identify with this
aspect of their culture by simply walking by.

24. AAC&U RUBRIC & FINDINGS

25. • AAC&U Rubric Link
• Cultural Pathways 2013 Blog

26. • All students scored at least a 3 out of 4 in each
competency dimension, with an average of
3.48 and an average range of 3.21 to 3.64.
• Overall averages for each student for the
intercultural competency development were 3
or higher, with an average of 3.48 and an
average range of 3 to 4.

27. • Students did not score as well
– Individual Student Overall Competency Scores
ranged from 2.25 to 3.5, with an average of 3.1
– Average Individual Competency Scores ranged
from 2.92 to 3.38 with an overall average of 3.1

28. • Model exposure through blog prompts
allowed the students to
– Be more focused on specific competency
development
– Be more engaged with the local population as
demonstrated through photos
– Be more reflective about experiences

29. FUTURE DIRECTIONS

30. • Growing study abroad population
• Training faculty & staff to use model

31. • Web tools
• Manual
• Explanation of goals for reflective writing
using AAC&U rubric

32. • Articulating expected learning outcomes can
help students achieve those outcomes.
• Providing a variety of formats for students to
reflect on their learning helps them
internalize the experience.
• The model helps to validate the
developmental aspects of the study
abroad to the administration.

33. • Dr. Tracy Rundstrom Williams,
t.williams@tcu.edu
• Dr. Beata Jones, b.jones@tcu.edu