subject: THE BEST LAID PLANS: Goals Setting as a Tool for Student Learning in Study Abroad [print this page] THE BEST LAID PLANS: Goals Setting as a Tool for Student Learning in Study Abroad
Why focus on student goals?
In recent years the field of international education has adopted a serious focus on assessing and documenting student learning abroad, discussing a variety of complex variables that may characterize an education abroad experience. Researchers continually face the challenge of accounting for these variables from the "outside"; indeed, what is often left unaddressed is the flip side of the coin, the complementary "inside" perspective: what do students themselves feel they are getting out of study abroad? What do they hope and expect to get out of study abroad? Put simply, what are their goals? While looking at outcomes the end product of a study abroad experience can provide researchers with hard data which supports our beliefs about the benefits of this special learning environment, we believe that it is necessary to start with the individual to better understand what goals students have and how they adapt these goals once faced with the daily reality of life abroad. It is our hope that by encouraging students to set goals and by providing them with opportunities to better understand their own learning and development, they will become more skilled at managing their expectations, articulating and pursuing their goals, and applying their newfound knowledge, abilities, and perspectives in future endeavors. The process of goals setting then becomes a tool which students can use not only to make the most of their often limited time abroad, but which they can also employ throughout the rest of their lives.
API's Goals Setting Project
API's goals setting research project has been conducted for the past three academic semesters (Spring 05, Fall 05, and Spring 06). The methodology of the project involves three different interventions with our Spain students via emails and online evaluations. Participation rates thus far have been encouraging: 51% of all students completed Goals I, setting five goals prior to their sojourn; 25% of these students completed Goals II, revising their original goals in light of their experiences in their host country; and 55% of these students completed Goals III, rating their opinions about the goals setting process, sharing advice with future API students on how to best work towards their goals, and considering how their future goals have been affected by study abroad. Overall, student responses can be divided into seven main goals categories. Table 1 shows the percentage of students identifying goals within these main categories (the number of subcategories included in each main category is shown in parentheses).
Table 1 MAIN GOALS I CATEGORIES PERCENT of STUDENTS LISTING RELATED GOALS language learning (4) 98.0% cultural learning/adjustment (5) 94.0% friends (4) 70.5% personal growth (6) 70.2% travel (3) 51.0% local involvement [place/people] (5) 50.4% other (11) 60.4%
Top 10 Student Goals
Many interesting trends emerged from students' Goals I responses, including a strong impulse to distinguish themselves from tourists and engage in the culture on a deeper level, as well as a recognition of the future impacts of study abroad on their language use, cultural sensitivity, academic and professional plans, and personal relationships. Given the large number of goals identified by students within the subcategories, it is fruitful to focus here on the most popular intentions of students and take a closer look at the top ten.
GOAL 1 cultural learning about Spain [60.4%] This concept encompassed an increase of knowledge/participation in the following areas: art and architecture, cuisine and wine, customs, traditions, lifestyle choices/patterns, festivals/cultural events/concerts, geography, history, popular culture, social dynamics, and social institutions. Students insisted on the power of the environment to "make the textbook come alive", and considered the benefits of both living and learning the culture, as well as comparing Spanish and U.S. American culture: "Through a newly influenced outlook, I want to not only change my perceptions about other countries and ways of life, but to also look upon my own traditions through a new filter."
GOAL 2 learn/improve Spanish; become "proficient" [49.8%] This goal for language learning included an improvement in a variety of linguistic skills, among these: the traditional four skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), communication skills, grammar usage (sentence structure, verb conjugations, verb tenses, etc.), vocabulary, pronunciation/accent, understanding Spanish dialects, rate/pace of speech, colloquial speech, specific language uses particular to Spain, and even "Becom[ing] so comfortable speaking Spanish that I can finally tell jokes"
