backcover information:
Here is a book that provides the foundation for effectively managing the experiential learning process of students studying abroad. More streamlined than its predecessor (The Whole World Guide to Culture Learning), it constitutes a student-friendly framework for sorting through the dynamics of the study abroad experience.
The first chapters remain essentially intact, laying the groundwork for comprehending the nature of culture learning, intercultural communication and cross-cultural adaptation. They also examine the attitudes and character traits that foster effective learning, offer a clearly defined action-reflection-response methodology for dealing with intercultural experiences, and provide a method of cross-cultural analysis. This section ends with a discussion---rarely encountered in the literature on study abroad---on ethics, values, and the dilemma of cultural relativism, for which the author suggests solid guiding principles.
In this abridged edition, fifteen of the most substantive guides (of the original 54) have been selected as self-instructional units. They can be used in study abroad programs before, during, or after the experience.
In the end, what we have is a text which provides a thorough review of the culture learning process---which is central to the experience of studying abroad---accompanied by a set of carefully selected practical applications, all of which will greatly enrich any study abroad program.
The unabridged edition is also available from Intercultural Press.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Culture Learning
Chapter 2: Attitudes and Character Traits That Promote Culture Learning
Chapter 3: Methods in Culture Learning: The Action-Reflection-Response Strategy
Chapter 4: Methods in Culture Learning: Reflection as Cultural Analysis
Chapter 5: Culture Learning, Values, and Ethical Choices
Chapter 6: Guides to the Culture-Learning Process
Guide 1--Noting Differences
Guide 2--Interpreting Nonverbal Cues
Guide 3--Interactions
Guide 4--Naming Your Cucarachas
Guide 5--Learning the isms
Guide 6--Dancing Their Rhythms, Telling Their Time
Guide 7--Dealing with Culture Shock
Guide 8--Identifying American Value Orientations
Guide 9--Studying Influences on Values
Guide 10--Personal Essays
Guide 11--Studying Institutions
Guide 12--Studying a Religious Institution
Guide 13--A Rock Concert
Guide 14--My Host Father
Guide 15--Reentry ExperiencesBibliography and References
Introduction Most people who go abroad encounter things about their host culture which disturb them. Reaction to these aspects of the culture can sometimes color their entire experience in the country and turn it grey. To adapt satisfactorily and to effectively exploit the opportunities for culture learning, it is necessary to face the challenges of overcoming negative responses that are so prevalent among people moving into a new culture. One of the best ways to overcome these negative responses is to name them, look them in the face, and come to terms with that which cannot be changed. That is what this book is about---facing squarely the difficulties inherent in cross-cultural experience so that the sojourner can reap the rewards in culture learning.
Let's start with you. You might be a student enrolled in an American college or university who wants to spend an academic year abroad. Perhaps you're just taking a short vacation trip to Mexico. Or you've volunteered to work with a non-governmental organization for three years in East Africa or are going to teach English in Thailand. Maybe you're a missionary nurse headed for Bolivia, or you're a volunteer social worker in India.
Whether you sling on a backpack and go vagabonding, set off with your family on a corporate assignment abroad, or register to study in a national university, you probably aren't the type who'll be content to live in the North American ghetto in the foreign city, sleep every day till noon, drown out the world with your boombox and favorite CDs from back home. Whatever your motivation for going abroad, I suspect that you will want to devote yourself to the serious task of learning another culture, developing relationships with the people you meet, communicating effectively, and adapting to the environment so as to make your time abroad as enjoyable and productive as possible.
Having said all this, it is our expectation that this book will be especially valuable to students who are going on their own or with organized study abroad programs. The methods addressed here rely heavily on experiential learning as practiced and valued at both the college and secondary levels. It calls for the intellectual discipline demanded of students in a more or less structured educational environment. It expects its users to be ready to adopt an inquiring frame of mind which characterizes all good students.
This book is directed toward students and students come in all ages, shapes and sizes. Thus, if you have an inquiring mind, this book ought to go along with you, even if you travel light.
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