Abstract

The internationalisation of higher education has led to study abroad being a large scale phenomenon. Students spend short periods on study tours or a year or more taking courses in foreign universities. Studying aboard cannot be dissociated however from learning to live in another country and culture. The need to adapt to a new education system is obvious but the inevitable difficulties of living in another culture for the purpose of study are also an important facet of the whole experience. Chapters in this book report research into this whole phenomenon. Authors have researched students travelling across the world, from East to West and West to East, and also the effects of studying in countries which seem to be more like students’ own. Each chapter explains the case in question, the findings from the research and what the implications might be. The second part of each chapter is then a critical reflection on the research methods used. The book thus provides a guide to the complexity of this kind of research and how that complexity can be handled with appropriate techniques and methods.

Michael Byram is Professor of Education at Durham University where he has taught trainee teachers, and researched language teaching and the experience of living abroad on language students in Higher Education. He is also Adviser to the Council of Europe Language Policy Division.

Anwei Feng lectures and supervises education doctoral students at Durham University. His research interests include intercultural studies, language education and the experience of students from Asia in the UK.

This volume offers a refreshing read not only to research regarding studying and living abroad but also to research in general. This volume serves as an invaluable tool for developing a strong research design in studying cultural interaction and its implication for study abroad.

Living and Studying Abroad bears valuable testimony to a field in transition. It will give new researchers a strong sense of what is possible and underlines the limitations inherent in certain types of approach. It is a book to be enjoyed and used as a methodological reference by anyone interested in cultural impacts of study and work abroad.