Worldviews, Criticisms, and the Peer Circle: A Study of the Experiences of a Student Teacher in an Overseas School

Worldviews, Criticisms, and the

Peer Circle: A Study of the

Experiences of a Student Teacher

in an Overseas School

A. Cendel KaramanMiddle East Technical University

Francois V. TochonUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

Abstract: This article explores international student teaching (IST) within the

narratives of a prospective language teacher from the midwestern region of the United

States. With a focus on one participant, the case study highlights significant factors that

relate to the IST experience in Ecuador. A corpus generated from verbal protocols col-

lected over a 1-year period in the United States and Ecuador was studied. With the

application of descending hierarchical classification, a factor analysis of the corre-

spondences, and the interpretation of participatory ethnographic observations, five

lexicometric classes were identified. The findings reveal the centrality of peer groups instudent teaching abroad. Important reflections underscore growth or changes in the

areas of language, identity, and worldviews. The peer circle in the foreign community

plays a significant role in shaping the access to different worldviews, criticizing local

practices, and contrasting everyday living.

Key words: intercultural, international student teaching, service learning, study

abroad, teacher education

IntroductionRecent reports on teacher education and its internationalization have pointed tothe importance of prospective teachers’ preparation for cultural diversity in

schools. Cultural immersion through participation in domestic and international

field experiences has been accepted as a path to the development of intercultural

sensitivity (Bennett, 1993). Across disciplines, interest in sending college students

abroad has continued to grow in the last decade. Among those studying abroad, the

number of students majoring in education has been limited. Of the 262,416 U.S.

A. Cendel Karaman (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an Assistant Professorof Foreign Language Education at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.

Francois V. Tochon (PhD, Laval University; PhD, University of Ottawa) isProfessor of Curriculum and Instruction, French, and Italian at University ofWisconsin-Madison.

Foreign Language Annals �vol. 43, No. 4 583

students studying abroad in 2007–2008,

only 4.1% chose a major in education and

6.2% had a major in foreign languages(Institute of International Education, 2009).

Student teaching abroad at public, pri-

vate, or parochial schools has garnered the

close attention of teacher educators and

researchers, mainly because it is an ideal

method of engaging prospective teachers in

social and professional encounters with

students and teachers whose cultures aredifferent from their own (e.g., Karaman &

Tochon, 2007; Pence & Macgillivray, 2008;

Quezada & Alfaro, 2007; Williams & Kel-

leher, 1987). In these programs, teacher

candidates often live with host families and

participate in the daily life of their host

communities. They also work with foreign

students and cooperating teachers at schools.During such cross-cultural encounters, the

patterns of thinking and the organization of

social relations influence the intercultural

visions of both hosts and guests. As an indi-

vidual faces difference, thoughts and actions

emerge in relation to worldviews and social

relation patterns.

It is significant to explore how partici-pants’ international field experiences relate to

intercultural development and whether or

not they reframe their worldviews (Shaules,

2007). Some teacher candidates approach

these field experiences as opportunities for

touring ‘‘the exotic’’ (Karaman, 2008b). Their

goals may be limited to sightseeing and tak-

ing numerous photos of historic sites listed inguidebooks. Or their goal may be as broad as

learning about the history and geography of

a different nation through travels to muse-

ums, natural wonders, and ancient cities to

gain new perspectives on world civilizations.

Such experiences can certainly broaden a

student teacher’s horizons and thus should

not be devalued or discouraged (Moschous& Mihalarea, 2007).

This article presents an inquiry that

situates one particular participant within a

foreign community and explores how the

field experience fits into this prospective

teacher’s life and professional development.

Studies conducted by program organizers

have mainly focused on investigating the

impact of international student teaching

(IST) experiences on groups of studentteachers abroad. However, it is also impor-

tant to explore individuals’ narratives of

experience. Researchers studying teacher

education have also drawn attention to

the need for longitudinal studies, incorpor-

ating pre-program, on-program, and post-

program components within the overall

research design (Karaman & Tochon, 2007;Mahon & Cushner, 2007; Zeichner, 2005).

It is important to study program partici-

pants’ thoughts on their interactions before,

during, and after the field experience

abroad.

This article also introduces a new

approach to studying IST. We integrate

narratives of experience before, during, andafter IST and explore linkages. Studying the

narratives of experience in IST is important

because, as Habermas (1985) stated:

In the communicative practice of every-

day life, persons do not only encounter

one another in the attitude of partici-

pants; they also give narrative presenta-

tions of events that take place in the

context of their lifeworld. Narration is a

specialized form of constative speech

that serves to describe socioculturalevents and objects. Actors base their

narrative presentations on a lay concept

of the ‘‘world,’’ in the sense of the every-

day world or lifeworld, which defines

the totality of states of affairs that can be

reported in true stories. (p. 136)

Here, the focus is not merely on con-

trasting what the individual has reported

before or after the experience abroad.

Rather, the organization of discourse needs

to be studied by searching for relations

across ‘‘lexical fields’’ (Brugidou, 2003).

Research on InternationalStudent TeachingBecause of limited foreign language profi-

ciency among students, it is a common

trend for universities that organize IST pro-

584 Winter 2010

grams to encourage participants to select

schools in English-speaking countries.

International schools or American schoolsabroad are also recommended placement

sites along with local public schools

(Mahon & Espinetti, 2007). While students

lacking the necessary foreign language pro-

ficiency may benefit from at least having the

opportunity to teach abroad, it is important

to incorporate linguistic learning in the

international student teaching programs,because language plays a fundamental role

in accessing culture.

Among factors that influence inter-

national programs is the availability of

sufficient funds for participants. Financial

considerations affect both the recruiting of

participants for IST programs and participants’

experience abroad. One international teachereducation program in Queretaro, Mexico,

leading to a bilingual certification was

supported by government grants. During the

period the program offered scholarships,

the applications significantly increased and the

participants had a more stable experience

abroad (Quezada & Alfaro, 2007).

Some teacher educators recommendextensive preparation before teaching in for-

eign lands (Wilson & Flournoy, 2007). They

require IST participants to complete one or

two courses on intercultural communication.

They assign students projects involving

research on the country’s education system.

Regular meetings with conversation partners

at their home campus prior to departure areconsidered to help launch the student teachers

on their journey toward true intercultural

understanding. While teaching abroad,

students must keep reflective journals that

they e-mail regularly to the home program.

While the journals can serve as reminders

of the experience, there is a potential risk

associated with overwhelming the studentswith multiple assignments, as this can

hinder their otherwise full immersion

experience abroad. In a sense, although the

goal is to build awareness, a constant fram-

ing of the experience can turn it into

nothing more than a field trip for a course

requirement.

While abroad, student teachers often

express the greatest dissatisfaction in the areas

of housing accommodations and programsupport. In accommodations, disillusionment

with home settings and family dynamics can

become a concern. Furthermore, individuals

have varying (and different) expectations

from their home institution and the host

institution (Mahon & Cushner, 2007). It is

critical for a student teacher to review the

actions and philosophies of internationalteaching programs and schools of education

before making a commitment to either.

Teacher educators have recognized that

we should also employ the intercultural sen-

sitivity models we demand from prospective

teachers to evaluate ourselves. In this regard,

some IST programs have attached great

importance to reciprocity with their counter-parts in foreign countries (Quezada &

Alfaro, 2007). In addition to sending U.S.

teacher education faculty to the school

abroad in an effort to gain an understanding

of that school’s (quite possibly different)

education system, as well as aiding students

and collaborating with counterparts from

overseas, these programs also host theircounterparts at their institution and organize

field trips in both locales. Such IST programs

also focus on the need for hosting student

teachers from partnering institutions. Fur-

thermore, they recognize the importance of

faculty exchanges for a true synergy in both

teacher education programs.

Teacher educators also acknowledgethe criticality of understanding the dynam-

ics of host communities and how student

teachers reflect on their experiences. IST

programs are continuously revised for imp-

rovement (Brennan & Cleary, 2007). More

teacher educators across continents are

developing international programs. It is

important to explore how professionaldevelopment and intercultural sensitivity

will emerge during such experiences.

Study ScopeThis study explores a prospective teacher’s

thoughts concerning her personal and pro-


fessional interactions abroad. First we intro-

duce Roxy,1 a prospective teacher, with some

elements from her life story. Based on Roxy’sdescriptions of her upbringing, schooling,

and teacher education program, this intro-

duction is aimed at providing the reader some

background information on her as a partici-

pant in an IST program. Second, we present

the analysis of Roxy’s verbal protocols from

multiple interviews conducted before, dur-

ing, and after the IST experience. Theclassification of lexical forms aids the inter-

pretation of significant topic areas in Roxy’s

discourse. A tree diagram demonstrates the

relations of thematic classes derived from the

corpus. We discuss each class with repre-

sentative lexical items as well as vignettes.

Finally, we map generated classes and lexical

items on a two-dimensional correspondencespace for further interpretation.

MethodsParticipant, Context, and SettingThis study is part of a series of longitudinal

studies focusing on the cases of four pre-

service Spanish language teachers who

participated in an IST program during the

same semester (Karaman, 2008a). The pro-

gram was organized by the participants’

university, located in the midwestern regionof the United States. As part of the post-major

K–12 teaching certification program require-

ments, participants had the option of

spending half a semester or an entire semester

teaching abroad. The IST program of the

participant in this study involved 8 weeks of

student teaching at schools in Cuenca, Ecua-

dor. The program involved teaching Englishin a world languages class and conducting

other educational interactions in Spanish.

After student teaching abroad, the participant

continued her student teaching at Spanish

language classrooms in the midwestern Uni-

ted States for the second half of the semester.

The ParticipantRoxy is a 23-year-old, white, female pro-

spective teacher of Spanish. Because both

parents had pursued higher levels of educa-

tion, for Roxy ‘‘it was never even questioned’’

whether she would go to college. Until her

sophomore year in high school, Roxy was nota ‘‘serious student’’ and ‘‘went by with the

minimum.’’ She then realized she would need

to ‘‘do a bit more’’ to be admitted to a repu-

table university. Roxy participated in various

activities in high school: she swam, played

basketball, ran track, sang in the choir, and

practiced forensics with poetry. At college,

she joined a dancing troupe. Roxy was gen-erally very shy as a youngster but was able to

‘‘gradually grow out of it.’’ Although she did

not feel that she was ‘‘incredibly successful,’’

Roxy considered forensics an opportunity to

help become ‘‘comfortable speaking in front

of people.’’For Roxy, deciding to become a teacher

was not rooted in a strong ideal toward

making a contribution to ‘‘the future orinspiring children.’’ Though she was certain

about her desire to pursue a field related to

Spanish, she was unsure what major area to

focus on in college. Feeling confident about

her interpersonal skills, she decided to take

some courses in the School of Education.

Later, she was ‘‘happily surprised’’ to learn

that she did actually enjoy her work, parti-cularly with high school students. Though

she had initially enjoyed teaching high

school students, Roxy felt that being

young was a disadvantage. She expressed

frustration with being stopped in high

school corridors during her student teach-

ing and constantly being mistaken for a

student. At her student teaching site in theUnited States, Roxy also volunteered for a

program that offers mostly English as a Sec-

ond Language (ESL) and literacy-focused

instruction to new immigrant families. As

Roxy expressed concerning her teacher

education program, the most rewarding

phase for her was the school experiences

where she could bridge theory and practice.Roxy had studied abroad in Spain for

one year. Although it was in some ways

really difficult because it was the first time

she had lived away from her family (and in

her absence some troubling familial pro-

blems had emerged), Roxy said how much

586 Winter 2010

she loved the study abroad experience. In

her electronic portfolio, she described her

experience thus:

Another experience that has greatly

enhanced my Spanish exposure and

understanding was studying abroad in

Madrid, Spain my junior year . . . . Liv-

ing in Madrid was a life-altering

experience for me not only because of

the language improvements and cul-tural exposure I gained, but also

because it was the first time I lived far

from the people who care about me,

and the area I grew up in. While it was

sometimes difficult, I think it was a

valuable experience for me to live for

11 months in a country where I was a

foreigner. I had to overcome languagebarriers and sometimes antagonism

because of where I was from. I feel

these experiences have made me more

sensitive to issues of social and ethnic

miscommunication and antagonism,

and better able to relate to students of

all backgrounds.

Roxy was also delighted that she had

made new friends with whom she was still

in touch: One of her roommates was from

France and another was from Morocco. She

was also happy to make new contacts from

the United States while studying abroad:

one from California and another from her

home state. She had found the Spanishcourse she had taken in Spain to be very

challenging. Roxy stated that she was very

enthusiastic about going to Ecuador so that

she could ‘‘solidify’’ her fluency in Spanish

by speaking the language on a daily basis, as

she would stay with a host family.

When we talked with Roxy before she

left for Ecuador in the spring, she outlinedher plan of returning from student teaching

in Ecuador in June and then joining the

Peace Corps in August. She was convinced

that the Peace Corps would provide her a

good start with the financial compensation

it offered after the 2-year paid-volunteer

term.

In preparation for Roxy’s student teach-

ing abroad, a faculty member in the teacher

education program regularly met with her aswell as the other participants in the program.

These meetings provided opportunities to

discuss intercultural communication, life in

the program site abroad, and school settings.

The student teachers had been trained within

the 5Cs Standards (Communication, Con-

nections, Comparisons, Communities, and

Culture) framework with a strong emphasison the Culture C. Their preparation for stu-

dent teaching abroad was based on the

curriculum folder and the handbook pub-

lished by the Center for Advanced Research

on Language Acquisition at the University of

Minnesota for ‘‘maximizing study abroad’’

(Cohen et al., 2003).’’ In particular, the pro-

gram faculty used culture-learning strategies.They organized seven meetings to discuss the

location, site, schools, project, and activities,

and to explore the culture materials. Faculty

showed a video of the site and the classroom

teaching of prior student teachers in the tar-

get location. They twice offered opportunities

to meet with student teachers who had taught

in that location the previous year. Narrativesof experiences were shared and discussed

critically. Group sharing and study groups

helped students clarify the stakes involved in

the decision to student-teach abroad. For

example, they did work on stereotypes and

generalizations, the sense of ‘‘foreignness’’

and ‘‘otherness,’’ differences within cultures,

and the relativity of cultural rules of conduct.They also discussed topics such as being per-

ceived as a foreigner, losing one’s bearings,

and feeling homesick; they explored these

through shared storytelling, case-based quiz-

zes, and small group discussion, along with

the development of conflict resolution strate-

gies based on cases reported by Cohen et al.

(2003). The supervisor abroad, Emma,received reading materials on clinical super-

vision. In addition to ongoing exchanges

through the Internet, the U.S. teacher edu-

cator met with the supervisor abroad.

A few weeks prior to the start of this

IST program, Roxy talked about her expec-

tations concerning the experience abroad.


Advancing her Spanish language proficiency

was her primary hope. She had never been to

a Latin American country. She felt that thisexperience would help her gain a closer per-

spective of Latinos in the United States. Along

with Roxy, her peers from the same teacher

education program, Audrey, Nora, and

Albert, also arrived in the same city in Ecua-

dor for their student teaching program. When

Roxy arrived in Cuenca, Carina (her host sis-

ter) met her at the airport.

SettingThe third largest city in Ecuador, Cuenca is a

beautiful city with a population reaching

300,000. In this culturally vibrant and

thriving city, students can interact with

speakers of Spanish and some speakers of

Quechua. There are opportunities to explorelocal communities and learn about Ecuador-

ian history. Roxy was placed at a private

school for her student teaching in Cuenca.

She also participated in after-school programs

such as dance lessons and a conversation

club. She lived with a host family and worked

with Ecuadorian cooperating teachers. Her

student teaching supervisor, Emma, was anEcuadorian educator who oversaw program

activities.

Study DesignWe studied the occurrences and co-occur-

rences of linguistic elements to understand

cognition and emotion (Perakyla, 2005).This study relied on a computer-assisted

discourse analysis methodology that made

possible analyses of a large corpus. Based on

the correspondence analysis theories of

Benzecri (1981), with the Analysis of the Co-

Occurring Lexemes in the Simple Utterances

of Text (Reinert, 2003), we approached all

constituent units of a text as contributors torepresentations of ‘‘views’’ that could reveal

‘‘realities.’’ Each simple utterance reflects a

pattern of thought. We therefore analyzed

word distributions within utterances in a

corpus. The process involved a calculation

of ‘‘similarities and dissimilarities between

the statistical distribution of vocabulary in

utterances’’ of the corpus (De Looze, Roy,

Coronini, Reinert, & Jouve, 1999, p. 405).

The analyses included descending hier-archical classification and factor analysis of

correspondences.

The design of this study incorporated

four semi-structured interviews with the

participant. We interviewed Roxy twice

prior to departure, once in Ecuador, and

once 9 months after her return. The on-site

interview took place 2 weeks before shereturned to her home country. In order to

explore how Roxy’s thoughts on the experi-

ence emerged after settling into her home

environment, we scheduled the final inter-

view several months after her return. While

we pay attention to different phases of the

experience, in this study we propose an

analytical approach. We view the indivi-dual’s discourses over time as a whole (we

collected verbal protocols within the dura-

tion of one year). With this systemic

approach, the parts of the whole may have

particularities, and their interactions and

relations must also be closely examined.

Therefore, rather than merely comparing

changes in the participant’s speech basedon time points (i.e., studying differences

between the participant’s discourse [1] prior

to IST, [2] abroad [during IST], and [3] after

abroad [post-IST]), we studied the partici-

pant’s discourse as a whole. The blending of

the speech samples made possible the

exploration of Roxy’s narratives of experi-

ence thematically. We also added tagsassociated with the dates of interviews to

observe if concentrations of particular

themes could be found in relation to time

points. We transcribed the interviews with

the student teacher verbatim and then coded

the interviews. The initial coding was lim-

ited to organizing the transcripts.

First, we gathered all relevant tran-scribed verbal protocols and saved them in

a single document, titled File 1 (F1).

Within the file, we identified segments of

contextual units taking into account the

caesurae (rhetorical shift points). A con-

textual unit typically consists of a couple of

sentences. Second, we identified reduced

588 Winter 2010

forms of words in the corpus. We generated

a document of dictionary of forms titled F2,

and constructed a table that crosses reducedforms with contextual units. In this table, a

horizontal row is devoted to each reduced

word form, and a vertical column is devoted

to each contextual unit. The cell where a

particular reduced word form’s row inter-

sects with a particular contextual unit’s

column provides a unique location in which

to record the co-occurrence (or lackthereof). Presence is marked with a 1, and

absence is marked with 0. Third, we classi-

fied utterances based on the similarities and

differences of words. This classification

shows groups of words that co-occur in

multiple segments. By gathering several

contextual units and forming classes, we

identified and categorized lexical patternsthroughout the corpus. We studied the

generated list of words within a class and

selected characteristic words based on a

frequency criterion, here a w2 value of

42.0. We interpreted characteristic words

with reference to their occurrence in con-

text. We reviewed generated characteristic

elementary contextual units (ECUs) foreach class to search for related segments

within classes. Finally, we employed factor

analysis of correspondences to the crossed

data table with words and classes. This

representation on two-dimensional geo-

metric space aids the interpretive process

by visualizing the proximities of classes and

tags to one another. We also studied dis-tances between classes and lexical items

from the corpus (Noel Jorand & Reinert,

2003). In the analysis, words with the

highest w2 values represent the character-

istic words in each class (Karaman, 2008a).

Additional Data SourcesBoth authors traveled to Cuenca and made

ethnographic observations concentrating

on interactions at teaching sites and within

the community. The first author had no

status relation vis-a-vis the program and

held the interviews, which probably eased

participants’ sharing of their concerns and

criticisms, as well as their considerations on

the formative dynamics of their professional

immersion. To gain a better understanding ofthe circumstances of homestay, he stayed with

the host family that was hosting Roxy at the

time. This host family owned a detached

house in a residential neighborhood with two

garden areas. In one garden area, there was an

Internet cafe run by the daughter and a piz-

zeria run by the son. The participants often

gathered at these locations. During the stay,he was able to interact with the participants

as well as the family regularly. This setting

made possible natural observations of inter-

actions in peer groups and the family. In

addition to individual interviews, he had

conversations with the participants during

several occasions. These also included meet-

ing with them at coffee shops, restaurants,workshops, their teaching supervisor’s home,

and the schools where they taught. The sec-

ond author spent time with the local student

teacher supervisor.We also spent time at the schools in

Cuenca. We observed Roxy’s student teaching

three times in Cuenca and video-recorded

these lessons for further review. We also

interviewed three Ecuadorian cooperatingteachers. During these interviews, the tea-

chers explained their mentoring relationship

with the prospective teachers. We also went

to schools with the student teaching super-

visor and had several conversations with her

about the program. During one interview, she

described her experiences working with for-

mer student teachers from the United Statesas well as her current interactions and reflec-

tions. We also conducted a focus group

interview at a coffee shop with three of the

host mothers and the supervisor. During this

meeting, the mothers discussed their interac-

tions with the students they hosted.

Results: Analysis of Roxy’sVerbal ProtocolsThe verbal protocols analyzed here include

the interviews with Roxy that were con-

ducted before, during, and after the student

teaching experience abroad. The focal ana-


lysis of Roxy’s discourse (three interviews)

aims to reveal significant themes. After the

identification of classes of meaning, westudy each class with both lexical items and

vignettes. We interpret these contextual

units in relation to (1) the patterns in other

units classified under the same class, and

(2) their occurrence in the original context

in Roxy’s speech. Our observations also

verify these interpretations. In the discus-

sion, we do not follow a chronologicalorder. Each class can be characterized by a

different period or several periods (i.e.,

before going abroad, while abroad, after

returning home). While we pay attention to

these time points, we do not use them to

structure the discussion. We approach them

as some of the many interacting entities in

the individual’s discursive system.The total number of forms (words) ana-

lyzed was 23,367. The number of distinct

forms was 2,101. The number of ECUs clas-

sified was 488. Of these, 282 (58% of corpus)

ECUs were ranked high and used in the

generation of classes. While the classes

are listed in numerical order below, the dis-

cussion begins with the class that had thehighest percentage of ECUs and follows a

descending order. Educational Settings and

Practices and Social Relation Dynamics were

the two primary branches in the discourse of

this prospective teacher. The ‘‘peer social net-

work abroad’’ had the most prevalent place

for her. Criticism of Practices Abroad was also a

salient pattern in the discourse. Five classeswere identified as a result of the analysis:

Class 1 – (Contrasting Everyday Living:

Home and Host Country) had 49 con-

textual units (17.38% of all thecontextual units selected): 52 forms

were selected.

Class 2 – (Language Use and Opinions

on Educational Settings and Actions) had

86 contextual units (30.50% of all thecontextual units selected): 66 forms

were selected.

Class 3 – (Perceived Intercultural

Growth and Lack of Professional Devel-

opment) had 25 contextual units

(8.87% of all the contextual units

selected): 72 forms were selected.

Class 4 – (The Importance of Exploring

Differences Among World Nations) had


were selected.

Class 5 – (The Peer Circle Abroad) had


were selected.

Figure 1 presents the classes generatedand schematized in a tree diagram based on

descending hierarchical classification. The

tree diagram shows the weight of each class

with percentages in analyzed ECUs as well as

the interrelations of classes. At the left edge of

the diagram is the tree stem: Educational Set-

tings and Practices and Social Relation

Dynamics. At first glance, one notices thatClass 5, The Peer Circle Abroad (34.40% of

ECUs), occupies a significant position as a

stem. Moving from the left to the right, one

then finds the classes connected to Educa-

tional Settings and Practices. One branch,

relating the Criticism of Practices, is con-

structed by Language Use and Opinions on

Educational Settings and Actions (30.50%) andPerceived Intercultural Growth and Lack of

Professional Development (8.87%). Another

branch, access to different worldviews, has

two sub-branches: Contrasting Everyday Liv-

ing: Home and Host Country (17.38%) and The

Importance of Exploring Differences Among

World Nations (8.87%).

Social Relation Dynamics: The PeerCircle AbroadThe emerging emphasis on frequent inter-

actions with peers in the first language (L1)implicates the distancing from a major goal

of the experience abroad. When a partici-

pant does not communicate extensively

with the foreign, opportunities for deeper

understandings of the local culture may be

limited. How did the socialization patterns

of Roxy affect her experience abroad?

590 Winter 2010

In Class 5, Roxy’s discourse centered on

her peer circle abroad. This class included

34.40% of ECUs. This substantive concentra-

tion on interactions with peers from the

United States signaled the primary orientation

of Roxy’s experience abroad. Among wordsrepresentative of this class were: Audrey

(w2 5 30.66), time (w2 5 28.08), Albert (w2

5 26.48), us (w2 5 21.04), Nora (w2 5 20.

25), bus (w2 5 17.73), and host-sister (w2 5

15.7).

Social relation dynamics played an im-

portant role in Roxy’s framing of her experi-

ence. In class 5, the characteristic words withthe highest chi-square values focused on

peers and patterns of activities. Initially, the

words Audrey, Albert, us, Nora, and time

occurred. These words co-occurred in con-

texts where Roxy detailed how she spent

time. Next, regarding the second layer in

Roxy’s social relations, words such as host-

sister, Carina, and Gaia brought togetherother individuals Roxy interacted with reg-

ularly. Gaia (Roxy’s host mother) co-occurred

with the words close and conversation. Over-

all, this class reveals the conceptual hierarchy

and borders of Roxy’s social relations during

her IST program.

Roxy felt that she was helping her peer,

Audrey, at times by listening to her whenshe needed someone to talk to after what she

termed a frustrating conversation with her

mother. Roxy also found comfort in talkingwith Audrey especially during the time when

she was overly concerned about sickness and

some of her distressing personal worries.

Roxy had not met Audrey’s family in the

United States. According to Roxy, Audrey’s

primary reason for seeking her as a listener

was her familiarity with their shared U.S.

world. For Roxy, she and her peers had twolives: one back home and one abroad. Roxy

thought that foreigners could not understand

their other (U.S.) lives. Roxy felt that these

two lives had no connections and that matters

related to home could only be shared with

those who were ‘‘a little bit closer to home.’’

Later, when we met months later back in the

United States, Roxy stated that she thoughtthat she had really found comfort in associat-

ing with peersFmost frequently with

Audrey. But she also realized that they were

speaking in their mother tongue all the time

and that their intended goal of improving

second language (L2) proficiency had been

neglected. She said:

Nora2 had amazing host sisters . . . . I

think she spent a lot of time . . . . She really

spent a lot of time with them . . . . More

with them than any of, out of the four of us

. . . . Albert and I were very good friends.

Audrey and I were pretty good friends

(ECU: 469, [w2 5 44]). Audrey and

FIGURE 1

Worldviews, Criticisms, and the Peer Circle Abroad


Albert were pretty good friends. . . . We all

knew the other persons from the pro-

gram, all four of us, but Nora was notreally on as good of terms with the three

of us (ECU: 470, [w2 5 37]). And you

know, we were all friendly with each

other, but I do not really think she really

felt as much . . . closeness to us and so

did not really go out of her way to spend

time with us (ECU: 471, [w2 5 35]). And

especially when she had really greatEcuadorian sisters, and hey! so . . .

maybe, I think at the time, I would have

liked . . . if I liked my host siblings

more, I would have gone out with them

and probably tried to avoid Audrey a

little more (ECU: 472, [w2 5 7]). But I

did not have, because I did not have that

opportunity, it was really, it meant a lotto me to have Audrey there.

Roxy also liked her host mother, Gaia,

whom she considered to be ‘‘opinionated

and out-spoken.’’ They would talk about

world events and politics. Roxy found that

they were in agreement on many issues.

Gaia was an energetic woman in her late 50sor early 60s. She was filled with optimism

and possessed a witty sense of humor. She

was also interested in alternative medicine

and spirituality. She and her son would

regularly go to meditation meetings. In their

living room, a photo of their guru was

hung on a wall in a special corner that had

beautiful plants. She would get up early inthe morning, prepare breakfast, and some-

times converse with Roxy. There would

be more conversations during lunch. She

would prepare meals and offer juices from

fresh fruits. Later, there would be another

opportunity to gather during dinner.

Paulo, Gaia’s son, was in his late 20s

and had a degree in tourism. He sometimestaught courses at the university as an

adjunct instructor. He was passionate about

starting his pizzeria, and during the time we

were there, he had already begun service.

Paulo was also interested in art. He was

spending time decorating the pizzeria him-

self. The pizzeria was located in the garden

at the side of their home. The English con-

versation club also met there every week.

Roxy, Audrey, Albert, Sue, Nora, her host-sister, and a few Ecuadorian students would

sit around a table and have conversations in

English. Within the same garden there was

Carina’s Internet cafe, where Roxy and

Audrey frequently spent time. Among their

common activities at the cafe were checking

electronic messages and updating their

pages on a social networking site. Theywould also excitedly upload new photos

they had taken in Ecuador. Carina was also

in her late 20s. She had a master’s degree

and Roxy thought she was very intelligent.

Roxy perceived the age difference with

her hosts as a barrier. Referring to how ‘‘cool’’

Nora’s host sisters were and how they were in

their early 20s, Roxy saw a gap between herhost-siblings and herself. She really liked

Carina but added that she felt Carina was

much older. Carina would spend most of her

time running her Internet cafe and Roxy

would sometimes take her lunches there to

converse with her. Roxy was distant to Paulo

and explained that this was due to personality

differences and that they just did not ‘‘click’’right away. Roxy described how, aside from a

few salsa dances, she did not hear local music

much and that she preferred to listen to her

favorite songs on her portable digital music

player all the time. For Roxy, having host-

siblings in a different age group was not con-

ducive to frequent interactions and thus her

connections with the foreign. This is illus-trative of how important it is for students to

be asked to detail their expectations related to

their accommodation and school placement

arrangements prior to program participation.

Program organizers could select host-families

with children in the same age group as the

participant. The design of activities abroad

must take group dynamics and social inter-action patterns into account.

Criticism of PracticesLanguage Use and Opinions on

Educational Settings and ActionsAs discussed earlier, in connection with

fewer opportunities for communication in

592 Winter 2010

the target language, Roxy completed the

program with somewhat limited target lan-

guage use and development. However, thereis a rich repertoire of reflections on language

use in the foreign language classroom. While

interactions in the L2 in the community

seem to be taken for granted, there is a care-

ful evaluation of language use in pedagogical

settings.

Roxy’s discourse in Class 2 related to

language use and opinions on educationalsettings and actions. This class constituted

30.50% of ECUs in the corpus. Among

some of the words used frequently in this

class were the following: class (w2 5 27.25),

English (w2 5 21.19), doing (w2 5 20.08),

they (w2 5 16.38), job (w2 5 13.97), picture

(w2 5 13.97), and teacher (w2 5 13.02).

Words such as class, activities, picture, andbook signaled the primary focus areas in this

class. Verbs such as doing, teach, present,

speak, read, use, and work represented the

actions in this class. Roxy framed this

discussion with I and the other actors

(they, teacher, them, and student). Regarding

instructional settings and her relation with

Kathy, the cooperation teacher, Roxy men-tioned that she observed linguistic accuracy

problems in the English language class-

rooms.

Kathy? I am a little bit intimidated by

her . . . . I struggle with . . . you know,

how candid can I be with her? Because

I do not want to be . . . this little upstart. . . U.S. chick who does not even have

her teaching degree. Be like: ‘‘Well, you

know, this is what I think . . . .’’ She

sometimes does not teach how I would say

something in English, but you know, is

not grammatically incorrect (ECU: 285,

[w2 5 7]). But it is not how people talk.

And . . . you know, do I interrupt class andbe like: ‘‘Actually you say this?’’ . . . they

read a story today about . . . a kid who

[was in] sixth grade, and he would like to

be on a deserted island and he would like,

what the book said was recollect coconuts

(ECU: 286, [w2 5 15]). And the recol-

lections are . . . you know, thoughts.

You collect coconuts. You do not recol-

lect, you recollect . . . thoughts, you

know? But I did not want to . . . ‘‘Duh! letus stop now, wrong!’’ . . . things like that,

I do not always . . . it is wrong, but you

know, when are they going to go out and

see the world and talk about recollecting

coconuts anyway, so . . . I just do not

want to be the type of upstart . . . little

. . . ‘‘I am younger, but you know, I know

everything!’’ So I just . . . I really goalong, she does not really ask for my

collaboration. She either tells me what to

do explicitly or gives me a vague idea of

what she would . . . to see, and then I do

that, I do it on my own. Or . . . she will be

. . . I have this idea we could do some-

thing . . . this, and I usually say: ‘‘That

would be good.’’ I do not exactly feel likewe are . . . because we are not colleagues.

I am not a teacher.

Roxy liked her cooperating teacher. She

enjoyed talking with her about their lives inSpanish during breaks. For Roxy, language

classes needed to incorporate ‘‘native’’ speech.

She listed several pronunciation errors and

hinted that speech should be modeled by

native speakers or recordings that accompany

textbooks. Reflecting on her future Spanish

classrooms, she added that she would want

her students to have ‘‘authentic’’ conversationsin communities.

. . . think that is why . . . every foreign

language, like recent text books, they all

have . . . the CDs that you pop in and a

native speaker, you know, to have thoseexercises where [the] native speaker is

talking instead of your teacher (ECU:

309, [w2 5 3]).

She also criticized choices for activities

made by the cooperating teacher. Duringour interview in Cuenca, she referred to the

lesson observed earlier that day. Activities

that involved 10th graders drawing images

and writing about them in language class

had appeared extremely ineffective to Roxy.

However, she explained she would not

express these concerns during lessons. As a


less experienced teacher candidate, Roxy felt

she should not discuss her criticisms with the

cooperating teacher. Overall, Roxy felt shecould now speak better Spanish but under-

scored that she would not apply any methods

she observed in Cuenca back home.

This class also brought forward Roxy’s

various thoughts on L1 and L2 use. For

example, regarding herself, Roxy expressed

how she was surprised that her English

speech began to incorporate elements of anEcuadorian accent:

. . . mentioned how apparently when I . . .

[am] speaking and teaching in English,sometimes . . . I hear how my students

talk to me and I will talk back to them . . .

in a very affected nonnative English way

(ECU: 302, [w2 5 17]).

Roxy’s student teaching abroad led her

to reflect on the uses of both her L1 and the

target language (Spanish). As a prospective

Spanish teacher, she was happy to have con-

versations with educators and hosts in the

target language. In the English as a foreign

language classroom, she focused on language

use. She advocated ‘‘native’’ speech in lan-guage classes and criticized the talk of the

cooperating teacher. She also reflected on her

own status as a foreign language educator

and a ‘‘nonnative’’ speaker of Spanish. Such

reflection was facilitated during the student

teaching experience abroad. IST program

organizers should insure that students have

ample opportunities for conversations in L2with the cooperating teachers. Because some

teachers may not have sufficient time to

speak with the student teachers, cooperating

teachers’ schedules need to be taken into

account when arranging student placements.

If student teachers cannot deeply discuss

experiences and observations with cooperat-

ing teachers, they may leave the site abroadwith faulty generalizations.

Perceived Intercultural Growth and Lack

of Professional DevelopmentRoxy’s discourse in Class 3 included her eva-

luation of personal and professional develop-

ment. This class made up 8.87% of ECUs.

Among some of the words used in this class

were the following: semester (w2 5 61.47),education (w2 5 42.08), school (w2 5 37.55),

level (w2 5 31.88), reason (w2 5 31.88), chal-

lenging (w2 5 31.17), and teaching (w2 5

22.33).

Prior to her departure to Ecuador,

Roxy clarified her expectations from the

experience abroad and the coming seme-

ster. She was hoping that she could observedifferent teaching methods and explore this

different education system. By having dif-

ferent experiences than those she would

have in the United States, she also antici-

pated that she would grow professionally.

She was excited that she would be living

with an Ecuadorian family and hoped that

they would want to talk to her and teach herabout their history, current events, and their

views. Not being able to work on some

assignments and submitting job applica-

tions from Ecuador worried Roxy.

Sue (an alumna of the program) had told

Roxy that it took her a semester to ‘‘really

break them in to what she wanted to see hap-

pen.’’ It seems that this conversation also ledRoxy to imagine an impossibility of accom-

plishing her ideal teaching objectives because

she only had half the time. Expressing her

frustration with the relations she had with

teachers, she also referred to an experience

that Audrey had where the cooperating tea-

cher thought that the activity she proposed

would not work. Referring to her home uni-versity’s emphasis on ‘‘progressive’’ education,

Roxy argued that the methods she learned just

‘‘cannot work’’ in Ecuador. For Roxy, this was

due to ‘‘class size, lack of materials, students’

grade level (middle school), or unwillingness

on the part of teachers.’’ Yet her student

teaching site was a private school with mod-

ern classrooms in which group work could beorganized. The class she taught had 15 stu-

dents. Roxy complained that she could not

successfully integrate peer or group work

activities. According to Roxy, the students

were simply ‘‘unaccustomed’’ to this style of

teaching and would not be receptive. She felt

that teachers typically assigned students

594 Winter 2010

worksheets or tasks such as drawing, which

usually involved students’ individual work in

class. She said:

I would say that in hindsight, the

Cuenca was a wonderful experience for

my own cultural learning and under-

standing. And I learned, it was veryvaluable to me that way, but as far as

developing my own . . . just bettering my

own teaching, that, it did not make me, I

do not feel it prepared me to be a better

teacher in the U.S. I think I also was not

given (ECU: 332, [w2 5 25]), my coop-

erating teacher really did not give me a

whole lot of freedom and did not reallylook to me for much opinion on you

know, developing lesson plans . . . the

lesson plan was, we will do these next

four pages in the book today. So . . . it

was pretty clear this is what we will do,

and you will help and you will be

backed up, but I was not helping

develop things. . . . I just kind of showedup and I helped and there was that so

basically, I really enjoyed being there and

everything that I observed and learned

culturally, but as far as professional

development, I do not think it was (ECU:

335, [w2 5 5]), it did not help me

become a better teacher here.

Roxy had also referred to the student

teaching experience abroad in her e-port-

folio. She had a more positive view of her

professional development in this text. In

this reflection, she acknowledged the pro-

fessional value of the experience abroad aswell.

This was a valuable experience both aca-

demically and professionally. I was able

to compare and contrast the different

teaching methods and styles I have usedand observed, which validated many

ideas I have in regards to presenting

information and classroom management.

Teaching in a developing country also

forced me to create and present lessons

with limited materials. In Cuenca, my

day-to-day and social interactions were

primarily in Spanish, which significantly

helped me improve my confidence and

fluidity in speaking. I was also introducedto many new artists, foods, and leisure

activities, as well as different worldviews

and historical perspectives, which greatly

affected my cultural awareness.

Comparing the private school and the

workshops at the public school, Roxy

expressed how much she enjoyed being

appreciated by kids in the reading group. She

felt students at the private school sometimes

appeared spoiled and complained about

homework. With no homework assignments

involved, her work with the reading groupwas pleasant. The organizer of the reading

group made a deep impression on Roxy. She

said:

And just seeing how she really . . . she is

just really warm with the students and,and she just has a really good rapport

with them, and the way she interacts with

them, the activities she comes up with;

she is the best teacher I have observed. I

really respect her a lot. And she is the

librarian at the school.

Roxy added that she liked being abroad

for many reasons. She proposed that in pre-

paration for becoming a teacher, a semester

abroad could be followed by a practicum in a

U.S. school. She felt that students in their last

semesters in schools of education would not

benefit from teaching abroad. Since shereturned home and started student teaching

mid-semester at a U.S. school, she went

through a challenging adjustment when the

U.S. teacher demanded that she grade papers,

participate in lesson planning, and many

other activities. This finding reminds us that

the transitions between home settings and

schools abroad require careful preparation. Itis important that participants understand the

‘‘different’’ ecologies of schooling and possible

conflicts in teaching approaches or different

demands by cooperating teachers. To address

this challenge, program organizers can also

ask participants to document their profes-

sional development abroad without continu-


ously evaluating the different practices

abroad as ‘‘incorrect’’ based on the home

institution’s local criteria. Supervisors abroadalso need to regularly discuss local practices

with the participants.

Access to Different WorldviewsContrasting Everyday Living: Home and

Host CountryRoxy’s discourse in Class 1 focused on com-

parisons of everyday living in the home

country and the host nation. This class con-

stituted 17.38% of ECUs. Among some of thewords used in this class were the following:

here (w2 5 16.52), everything (w2 5 10.37),

America(n) (w2 5 9.44), constantly (w2 5 9.

38), family (w2 5 9.38), funny (w2 5 9.38),

and giving (w2 5 9.38).

But . . . they are friendly. I tried to talk

to Gaia more . . . when she is at home in

the kitchen. Spend time with her, talk

to Carina at the Internet cafe. I am per-

fectly, candidly and honestly, I am not a

huge fan of Paulo. We just, something

. . . I do not know. I just do not like him,so . . . . He strikes me as very arrogant.

He always . . . he is constantly. . . giving

me advice . . . . Like . . . I can handle

myself, thank you! I do not know, just

things like that. And I do not know. I think

it is partly he is the man of the house and

I am, it is a very patriarchal society

(ECU: 82, [w2 5 17]). I do not think hemeans to come off as arrogant, but he

does . . . . Audrey has thought and said

the same thing to me. So . . . . But I

really like Gaia and Carina a lot.

[Abroad]

About 9 months later, during another

interview in her home city, Roxy brought up

the same issue with strikingly similar

wording:

. . . that meant I was part of his family

and you would not disrespect me. And

you know, that is just nothing that I am,

I can take care of myself, thank you!

(ECU: 380, [w2 5 21]). [After abroad]

Roxy perceived the host family dynamics

as signs of a patriarchal family. She appeared

not to consider the fact that there was not afather in the family. In such a context, Paulo

seemed to have taken the role and worked

with his mother to handle household needs. It

is unclear how he approached Roxy, but it is

likely that he took on the role of an older

brother caring for a younger sister. This

would explain why he felt the need to give

advice to Roxy. Overall, there was a clashbetween Roxy’s individualist orientation with

the more collectivist one she encountered in

the family. For Roxy, some attitudes appeared

as intrusions to her individual space. Coupled

with her sensitivity regarding gender roles,

Roxy felt that her autonomy was diminished.

Roxy underscored how she came to be

more observant of differences in individualsand nations, and in response to this observa-

tion, she began to list incidents that startled

her. She was frustrated when her dance

instructor asked if she was a cheerleader as

they were preparing for a cheerleading com-

petition. Roxy thought she was asked about

cheerleading just because she was a female

from North America. For Roxy, gender rela-tions were challenging during her stay. She

explained how all women receive compli-

ments but that she ‘‘hated’’ being approached

by men on the streets. She felt she could be

getting particular attention because they pos-

sibly considered her ‘‘exotic.’’ It would also

not be shocking to encounter intoxicated

young adults approaching the opposite sexon the streets of Roxy’s U.S. college town. But

because of her familiarity with cultural codes

and sense of belonging in the community,

Roxy would not experience the challenges

she experienced abroad. While abroad, Roxy

missed what she considered ‘‘ideal gender

relations’’ in her home community. None-

theless, overall, she was happy to be inCuenca rather than home. She had experi-

enced things that she would not experience

back home. She said she was excited that she

would have ‘‘entertaining stories for her kids.’’

These included incidents of getting sick after

drinking unfiltered water at a mountain town

and during other trips.

596 Winter 2010

I do not want to . . . go back to the U.S.

either and be like: This horrible thing

happened to me in Ecuador. This horriblething? . . . No! I do not know. Just being

able to joke about your misfortune makes

it a lot easier to tolerate (ECU: 170,

[w2 5 1]). Oh, I am really happy to be

here instead of [home state].

Roxy continued her discussion with a

disclaimer. She underscored that she

had always been careful not to ‘‘stereotype’’

others. She perceived her experiences as

part of a progressive journey starting in a

small Midwestern suburb. By first takingtrips to big cities such as New York and then

staying abroad, she believed one would

encounter ‘‘tests,’’ and by leaving one’s

‘‘bubble’’ one would ‘‘be in a different

[world] and see how people treat you.’’

According to Roxy, these experiences made

her more ‘‘empathetic.’’ While Roxy was

aware of the many intercultural develop-ment opportunities she had, during her

field experience abroad she still struggled

with interpreting the different cultural ele-

ments. Program organizers could benefit

from discussions of such cases before, dur-

ing, and after the field experience abroad.

To that end, narratives of program alumni

could be used or guest speakers could beinvited to share personal experiences.

The Importance of Exploring Differences

Among World NationsRoxy’s discourse in Class 4 was centered on

underscoring the value of exploring differ-

ences in world nations for her fellow citizens.

This class made up 8.87% of ECUs. Among

some of the words used in this class were the

following: seeing (w2 5 63.02), different (w2 5

54.29), people (w2 5 44.8), important (w2 5

42.08), countries (w2 5 31.17), place (w2 5 21.97), and citizen (w2 5 21.97). For Roxy, it was

important to explore different worldviews

through travels to other nations. She felt that

she had a distinction from many of her fellow

citizens because she had experienced some

enriching interactions abroad. This framing,

which put her in a position of privilege, was

not limited to this domain. Roxy frequently

chose to highlight her distinctions in the

professional domain as well. She said:

How people . . . one person is different

than another, how . . . in general how

Ecuadorians have reacted to me versus. . . people of Madrid, is you know, it

seems pretty different too. But like, it is

interesting because like the U.S. has such

an effect on the world, and yet U.S. citi-

zens are so ignorant about what is going

on outside of the, most of the time, their

own state (ECU: 186, [w2 5 37]). But

just like, you know, either observing . . .just hearing people . . . overhearing

people talk about the U.S., or having

people want to talk to me about it. I

have had some really interesting con-

versations along the way.

Roxy explained how through observa-

tions she constructed an image of Latin

AmericaFfrom the ‘‘lesser developed’’

rural areas to the ‘‘westernized’’ cities that

shattered her prior image of the ‘‘exotic.’’

She explained how she was not focused on

positioning herself differently: ‘‘And I donot think I was really . . . putting a huge . . .

these people are South American, and I am

a U.S. citizen, and they are a developing

country and I am in one of the richest

countries in the world . . . really looking to

make huge . . . to find big differences

between us, but at the same time, I just, to be

aware of . . . how do people live in thiscountry versus mine versus Spain.’’ She

added that people were more ‘‘laid-back’’ in

Europe, and that they had ‘‘the siesta’’ in

Spain and Ecuador. Roxy’s general con-

ceptual framing of difference was driven by

how she was positioned compared with other

people as well as with fellow citizens. Such

multidimensional comparisons also need tobe discussed by program organizers. While it

is desirable to have participants evaluate

their cultural understandings in comparisons

with both the home and host communities,

without guidance and experience sharing,

there is the risk of the emergence of ethno-

centric views.


DiscussionWhat were Roxy’s expectations related to

language proficiency advancement before

her student teaching abroad? How did she

evaluate her growth in this area while she

was abroad? Months after her return, how

did she evaluate her language development

abroad? Before going abroad, Roxy listed

her language proficiency expectations asfollows:

I am hoping this experience will really

solidify my proficiency . . . . There are a

lot of reasons. I have never been to a Latin

American country, and Spanish-speaking

people in the U.S. are Latino, and so I will

have that much more closer perspective

than maybe Spain and that is what I am

hoping for.

The four excerpts below present Roxy’sthoughts on language use while she was

abroad. The first excerpt shows how she

and her peers were complimented by locals

on their Spanish speaking abilities. In the

second excerpt, referring to how some

locals approached her speaking in English,

Roxy underscored her need to commu-

nicate in her L2. While abroad, Roxy beganto feel that her speaking performance in L2

had improved (see the third excerpt).

According to the fourth excerpt, Roxy

found the task of regularly communicating

in L2 very stressful.

We get that a lot. ‘‘Oh, you speak Spanish

so well.’’ I have been studying it since I

was in seventh grade. . . . I mean, I am

used to that.

It is sort of the impression I got, because alot of people are like Wow! You actually

speak Spanish. Or they will start talking

English and I will be like, I am here to

speak Spanish, you know? Can you

please not speak to me in English?

I feel I speak Spanish better . . ..

. . . just my experience here, like the stress

of . . . living and functioning in a different

language every day, so far away from

everything. You are like used to. You

know, that takes this whole emotional

thing of being sick, you know, makes you,weak.

The two excerpts below present a

synopsis of Roxy’s reflections on language

use several months after her return fromEcuador. Clearly, Roxy’s conversations in

her L2 with the cooperating teacher left a

significant mark on the experience. The

second excerpt reaffirms how L2 commu-

nication opportunities were hindered by

the regular interactions she had with her

peer from her home institution.

On our break time, I really enjoyed talk-

ing to my cooperating teacher in Spanish.

. . . where I spent so much time with

Audrey and we would talk and we got

close, and you know, it was great, but wewere not speaking Spanish and so there

was that issue.

Roxy also reflected on her experience

abroad in her electronic portfolio. Shewrote how she benefited from leading a

language conversation club with one of her

peers:

The club de lenguas was a very informal

setting and as facilitators, we constantlyreminded our students that it is more

important to us that they talk than how

they say something. The emphasis was

for students to express their ideas and for

other students to react to them, and I was

so impressed to see the students speaking

together more and more independently of

the facilitators. This experience rein-forced my belief that communication in

all forms, speaking, listening, reading,

and writing, must be equally emphasized

in the classroom. It also showed me that

students develop much more confidence in

speaking in their target language in real

life situations, if they have had the chance

to practice communicating in similar,structured situations.

So far, we have analyzed each class

of meaning with particular attention to

598 Winter 2010

lexical items and vignettes. The coupling of

analyses of lexical items and life vignettes

made possible an understanding of thecontexts in which we can interpret each

class. It is also important to explore the

linkages between these classes. By under-

standing these linkages and mapping

classes together with lexical items on a

two-dimensional correspondence space, we

can further interpret Roxy’s narratives of

experience.We can infer degrees of association

based on the distance between classes, tags,

and lexical items. Therefore, it is necessary to

list the associations of tags and classes found

in the lexical form tables as a result of the

analysis. Class 5 (The Peer Circle Abroad) was

closely associated with the After Abroad tag.

This prevalent emergence in the post-experi-ence discourse signals the criticality of peer

networks in the participant’s reflections. This

also verifies that relations with peers from the

United States continued to be important for

Roxy even after the program was finished.

For example, during our interview about 9

months after her return from Cuenca, Roxy

mentioned she was planning to meet Audreythat evening.

As mentioned in the descending hier-

archical classification description, classes 2

and 3 were sub-branches of the criticism of

practices. Class 3 (Perceived Intercultural

Growth and Lack of Professional Develop-

ment) was closely associated with the After

Abroad tag. Perceived intercultural growthand lack of professional development could

characterize Roxy’s post-program reflec-

tion. Class 2 (Language Use and Opinions on

Educational Settings and Actions) was asso-

ciated with the Abroad tag. Roxy’s speech on

her language use and critical opinions on

educational settings and actions was most

prevalent when she was in Cuenca. Class 4(The Importance of Exploring Differences

Among World Nations) was associated with

the Before Abroad tag. This signals an

important shift in Roxy’s discourse: She

discontinued her frequent emphasis on the

need for exploring differences among world

nations.

The scatterplot in Figure 2 presents the

results from correspondence analysis incor-

porating the representative words andclasses. As hinted by the descending hier-

archical classification, Class 5 (The Peer

Circle Abroad) has a distinct locus. Class 5 is

in the upper left quadrant close to the hor-

izontal axis. All the other classes are situated

in the right-hand quadrants. Among the

classes situated in the right-hand quadrants,

Class 3 (Perceived Intercultural Growth andLack of Professional Development) is dis-

tinctly placed right on the horizontal axis.

With more detail, in Figure 2, one can

also study the relations of classes, words,

and factors. Axis 13 (31.85% of inertia4)

contrasts four classes that represent a dis-

cursive focus on educational settings and

practices with another class that is char-acterized by forms that relate to social

relation systems. Axis 2 (27.27% of

inertia) contrasts words that concentrate on

identity and language and words that

underscore encounters with difference. At

first glance, the heaviest concentration of

representative words seems to be around

social relation systems (the horizontalaxis). Class 5, The Peer Circle Abroad, is

associated with social relation systems; it

is the most significant branch of Roxy’s

discourse. For Roxy, access to different

worldviews was also important. However,

the most foregrounded dimension in Roxy’s

experience abroad was social relation

dynamics. This involved structuring heractivities through the peer circle.

The proximity of Classes 1, 2, and 3 to

Educational Settings and Practices shows that

this was another active domain for Roxy. The

representative words related to this factor in

Figure 2 hint that Roxy referenced educa-

tional actions and linguistic aspects abroad

critically. In communication, an argumenta-tion can involve the disputations of oppositi-

onal viewpoints with varied justifications.

When argumentation halts, the communicat-

ing parties must reflect on difference.

Without opposition or argumentation break-

off, systems tend to become monological.

According to Habermas (1985), when argu-


mentation break-offs occur, dominant world-

views can be reflected upon and challenged.

Then, one can conclude that experiencingconflicts may have important contributions

to individuals’ reflections. For Roxy, pedago-

gical and ideological conflicts sparked more

comparative reflection. In general, Roxy was

critical of teaching practices during her stu-

dent teaching abroad. Even these pedagogical

conflicts may have challenged Roxy’s views.

The student teaching supervisor also notedRoxy’s criticism of teaching practices:

Roxy was saying [to] me that she needs

more discipline in the class and stu-

dents are more disorganized in the class

. . . and for me, it is our way of being.

We are more ‘‘disorganized’’ in LatinAmerica and that means that we are

more spontaneous maybe . . . or that

means that we are more . . . I don’t

know . . . not too strict not too . . . . We

like to live in this way and maybe Roxy

or any student needs to know that there

are other ways of being in class and

maybe in that school because a private

school, students are not paying atten-

tion too much because they are likespoiled children.

Health-related and personal concerns

also caused Roxy to be less mindful of the

immediate interactional situations sur-

rounding her abroad. In a sense, these

concerns clouded her experience. Roxyattempted to find an intercultural system of

understanding but gradually resorted to

building barriers instead. In relation to the

comments of the supervisor above, Roxy’s

negative impressions of the practices during

an English lesson come to mind. Despite a

conversation with the supervisor, Roxy’s

view did not change. Whether two partieswill enter into a dialogic relationship that

leads to a reframing of their worldviews

(e.g., about theories of ‘‘good’’ teaching) is

always uncertain. For that purpose, a sys-

tem of communication that bridges the gap

between their cultural systems could be

created (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). The crea-

FIGURE 2

Correspondence Analysis of Representative Words

600 Winter 2010

tion and sustenance of such intercultural

communication could aid individuals’

recognition of different cultural perspec-tives. With such critical reflection, the

prospective teachers could become cogni-

zant of these dynamics of difference during

their future encounters. This would involve

recognizing that claims for truth are con-

strained by individuals’ worldviews. Sustai-

ned intercultural communication can help

individuals also view argumentation break-offs as opportunities for reflection and

empathy. Such heightened global awareness

could lead to more culturally sensitive per-

sonal and professional actions. For prospec-

tive educators, awareness and acceptance of

differences in worldviews and ideologies

framing daily actions could characterize

what has also been described as a globalteacherhood (Karaman & Tochon, 2007).

ConclusionsThis study provided a deep analysis of the

thoughts of a prospective world language

teacher related to the experience in a foreigncommunity. We dimensionalized significant

themes in the participant’s narratives of

experience. In addition to highlighting

thought patterns by presenting significant

words in the participant’s narratives, the pre-

sentation and discussion of contextualized

life-vignettes made possible closer explora-

tions of the narratives of experience.Furthermore, the longitudinal approach

made possible the investigation of relations

between multiple phases related to student

teaching abroad (i.e., before abroad, abroad,

and after abroad) and prevalent thoughts of

the participant signaled by significant con-

textual units in the narratives of experience.

Additional data sources such as observationsand researcher participation aided the inter-

pretive analysis of the case. The research

framework we designed was not previously

used in investigating a study abroad setting. It

can be applied in future studies on study

abroad by other researchers as well as study

abroad coordinators.

In this article, we have seen how one

prospective teacher’s social relation dynam-

ics and interactions with peers weresignificant during her IST program. The

narratives of experience also revealed the

emphasis Roxy put on language use and her

evaluations of educational activities. At

times, Roxy’s intercultural stances were

characterized by comparisons with her

home culture. Surprisingly, during our

interviews, Roxy reported that she felt shehad experienced intercultural growth but

no professional development. When we

examined her e-portfolio, we found that she

acknowledged some contributions of the

experience abroad to her professional

development. Roxy’s worldviews strongly

affected her experiences at schools. She

evaluated pedagogical practices based onher home school system’s practices.

The depth of adaptive cultural demands

faced by the student teacher is an im-

portant aspect to consider when organizing

student teaching abroad, as the cultural

difference alone does not explain cultural

learning (Shaules, 2007). The ongoing

discussions of cultural clashes in peergroups may lead to negative cultural learn-

ing, which reinforces generalizations and

even stereotypes. The qualitative case study

demonstrates the role of the host family as a

factor that can modify the worldviews and

intercultural perspective of the sojourner

abroad. In addition, Roxy’s case study high-

lights the possibly controversial role of hercircle of peers. For some age groups, partici-

pants’ interactional needs abroad may

significantly vary; this is an area that needs to

be further investigated. Some actions of

participants abroad may signal a lack of

integration with the local community and

difficulties in meaningfully interacting with

the hosts. Consequently, such individualsmay not develop the characteristic outcomes

anticipated from such study abroad experi-

ences in terms of language proficiency and

cultural understanding. Unless critical

debates are carefully organized on a regular

basis in small groups involving the partici-

pation of foreign peers of the same age, the


role of the inner circle of same-nationals may

often prove to be counterproductive.

This study has also shown that whilethere are notable reflections on language

development abroad, concerns such as the

frequency of interactions with peers in the

L1 as well as personality and intercultural

communication stances play a vital role in

shaping the experiences of participants.

During programs abroad, students can fall

into the trap of mostly seeking out theirfellow nationals and just associating with

them. While it is sensible to have friends

who are of one’s nationality to help main-

tain ties with one’s home culture, these

needs should not suppress the access to the

new culture explored. Needless to say, hav-

ing the same nationality as another person

does not ensure a good friendship withthem. In a foreign community, students

should maximize interactions with the new

friends they meet who can potentially help

them access new worldviews. This could be

fascinating. On the other hand, when one

just pursues friendship with ‘‘the other’’

merely for cultural exploration, constant

comparisons and complaints could lead tointercultural insensitivity.

Study abroad coordinators should attach

importance to preparing participants for

meaningful interactions in foreign commu-

nities. Such preparation should also include

language studies, and participants should be

encouraged to communicate in the target

language. Communication in the local lan-guage could ease access to the host culture

and promote intercultural interest in both

parties. The hosts’ stances also play a sig-

nificant role in successful intercultural

understanding. Therefore, supervisors abroad

should also prepare hosts and cooperating

teachers for the intercultural journey.

After program completion, students sub-mit required reflection reports and receive

grades. Many graduate shortly thereafter.

Instead, along with pre-departure preparation

and onsite supervision, students should be

required to take a post-experience course in

the following semester. During that semester,

students can truly reflect on the experience

by revisiting images, notes, and digital re-

cordings and write about their experience.

They should also be allowed the choice of thegenre for their reflection, which could be in

the form of a story, report, interviews, poetry,

or documentary film.

When establishing friendships in inter-

cultural situations, shared ethics or the

quality of tolerance for difference may be

vital. Only then can both parties expect to

have harmonious relationships. Otherwise,each interaction can involve a difference-

related struggle. Encounters with difference

can evidently be enriching, but this is only

possible when parties are mutually aware of

the value of their differences during inter-

actions with one another.

AcknowledgmentsWe would like to thank the prospective

teacher, the supervisor, the cooperatingteachers, and the host family who partici-

pated in this study. We also thank the

reviewers for their thoughtful comments.

We also thank Nevio Cristante for proof-

reading the article.

Notes

1. A pseudonym.

2. Words in italics represent forms with

significant chi square values in each

class.

3. Axis 1 refers to the horizontal axis, andAxis 2 refers to the vertical axis.

4. In correspondence analysis, ‘‘inertia’’ can

be called a ‘‘variation in a table’’ (Brugi-

dou, 2003). See Greenacre (1994, pp.

12–13) for a detailed discussion.

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