Study Abroad and Student Decision Making in Times of COVID: A Mixed Methods Study

Authors

  • Gorka Basterretxea Santiso Georgetown University
  • Cristina Sanz Georgetown University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v34i1.649

Keywords:

Pandemic, study abroad, factors in decision-making, virtual, immersive

Abstract

The impacts of Covid-19 on Study abroad (SA) are deep and widespread and potentially affect the factors that guide US undergraduate students’ choices as they relate to SA. To investigate them, the present study relies on the MSA (Motivation to SA questionnaire: Anderson & Lawton, 2015) and adds two new groups of factors: language learning and health. To observe changes in the relative weight of factors before and during the pandemic, responses to two different versions of the MSA from 83 students who had participated in SA prior to the pandemic were compared. Results from statistical analyses show stability in the ranking of importance of factors pre- and during pandemic, except for health-related factors, which come second after world enlightenment. In addition, interviews show that while students view immersive SA as a significant experience for its contribution to their personal and intellectual development, they do not consider virtual SA a real SA experience.

Abstract in Spanish

Los impactos del Covid-19 en los programas de estudio en el extranjero son amplios y profundos y potencialmente afectan los factores que guían la decisión de los estudiantes de grado en EE.UU. a la hora de estudiar en otro país. Para poder investigarlo, el presente estudio utiliza el MSA (el cuestionario Motivation to Study Abroad: Anderson & Lawton, 2015) y añade dos nuevos grupos de factores: aprendizaje de lenguas y salud. Para observar cambios en la importancia relativa de los factores antes y durante la pandemia, se han comparado las respuestas a dos diferentes versiones del MSA de 83 estudiantes que estudiaron en el extranjero antes de la pandemia. Los resultados de los análisis estadísticos muestran estabilidad en el orden de importancia de los factores antes y durante la pandemia, con la excepción de los factores relacionados con la salud, que se encuentran en segundo lugar después de los factores relacionados con la formación global. Además, las entrevistas sugieren que mientras que los estudiantes consideran la inmersión en el extranjero como una experiencia importante para su desarrollo personal e intelectual, no consideran los programas virtuales como una experiencia real de aprendizaje en el extranjero.

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Author Biographies

Gorka Basterretxea Santiso, Georgetown University

Gorka Basterretxea Santiso, MA, MS, is a doctoral candidate in Spanish sociolinguistics at Georgetown University. At Georgetown, he serves as Graduate Teaching Associate, Assistant Director for Intermediate Spanish, and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Georgetown@Barcelona Summer Program. He was also co-chair for the annual graduate conference GRAPHSY 2021 at Georgetown University.

Cristina Sanz, Georgetown University

Cristina Sanz, PhD, is Professor of Spanish & Linguistics at Georgetown University, where she directs the Georgetown@Barcelona Summer Program; her term as a chair just ended. She is co-editing a volume on methods in study abroad research for John Benjamins and has co-edited the Routledge Handbook of Study Abroad Research and Practice. She received the President’s Award for Distinguished Scholars-Teachers (2019) and the AAUSC Innovation in Language Program Direction Award for Inclusion and Social Justice (2020).

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Published

2022-03-18

How to Cite

Basterretxea Santiso, G., & Sanz, C. (2022). Study Abroad and Student Decision Making in Times of COVID: A Mixed Methods Study. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 34(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v34i1.649

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Learning from COVID-19

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