Engaging Study Abroad Students in Intercultural Learning Through Blogging and Ethnographic Interviews

Abstract

Abstract The study involved 16 American undergraduate students who used weekly blogs and conducted ethnographic interviews with native speakers to develop their intercultural competence over the course of one semester abroad. Selected blog entries, post‐surveys, and final interviews were collected and analyzed to report the findings. The results show that blog tasks afforded additional opportunities for students to refl ect upon cross‐cultural issues and exchange cultural perspectives with native informants. Blog entries indicate that students demonstrated various stages of intercultural competence from understanding cultural differences to demonstrating attitudes of openness and appreciation for the target culture. The study concludes that the accessibility to networking, the option of using the first language (L1) for self‐refl ection, and effective strategies for interpersonal communication are essential to maximize the potential of blogs for intercultural learning.

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