Pathways
Pathways to Proficiency: Strengthening Middle East Study Abroad Programs
Programs are invited to voluntarily participate in a Network of Excellence, which will entail greater accountability and transparency. In order to accomplish this goal, NMELRC has been collaborating with study abroad partners to make the following resources available to students, teachers and administrators at the Middle East language programs in the United States and overseas. Project Perseverance
This project aims at understanding and enhancing factors influencing social network formation by Middle East language learners during the study abroad program experience – NMELRC research team is using a detailed process that includes – daily journal entries, ethnographic observation, post-study interviews, and questionnaire responses from L2 learners of Middle East languages. We address motivation, identity, L2 proficiency, and several other important factors.
The NMELRC team is focusing on answering the following questions:
- How do students develop social networks?
- Who do students tend to interact with the most?
- What factors influence the formation of social networks (language ability, attitudes, motivation, identity, etc.)?
- How do program interventions (orientations, ongoing support, etc.) affect social network formation? Motivation and identity, factors found to be important in previous research on social network development and language acquisition during study abroad, play important roles in social network development. NMELRC teams are on the ground at Middle East study abroad programs mentoring students and coaching them on ways to achieve self efficacy and manage their own career goals as well as expectations from their home institution in the United States, their host school and teachers.
For more information of how to get involved in the project contact nmelrc-research@byu.edu
Outreach
NMELRC held several Arabic study abroad summits in the Middle East in the summer of 2008. The meeting in Amman was held in May and the meeting in Cairo in July. These meetings addressed the challenges and opportunities that the recent interest in Arabic has presented Study Abroad programs in the Middle East. With over 25,000 post-secondary American students currently studying Arabic and more public schools offering it at the K-12 level, Arabic study abroad programs are overwhelmed. As a result, NMELRC brought stakeholders together in Jordan and in Egypt to discuss ways to improve collaboration between stateside and abroad programs. The first meeting in Amman was held on May 14th, 2008 and attended by representatives of major Jordanian universities and language institutions. Also among the participants were representatives of American and international educational entities. The participants, led by NMELRC Director Kirk Belnap and Ray Clifford, President of ACTFL, seemed especially keen on working with NMELRC to adopt appropriate assessment tools, better understand students' needs and fine-tune their offerings accordingly. The second meeting was held on July 9th, 2008 in Cairo. Mahmoud Al-Batal, Associate Director of NMELRC, and Maggie Nassif, Administrative Director, led a group discussion with 34 Arabic teachers, program directors and education experts at a full day meeting co-sponsored by the Fulbright Commission in Egypt and BYU's Kennedy Center for International Studies. NMELRC held two follow up summits in Casablanca in July 2009 and June 2010 in Cairo and continues to work with study abroad providers to advise on the best ways to cater for the needs of American students studying abroad. Middle East Study Abroad Program Comparison Matrix NMELRC is hosting an online matrix to help students compare study abroad programs side by side. Abroad programs whishing to be listed can voluntarily provide objective information regarding their academic and cultural offerings, with details such as program length, cost, curriculum samples. In addition to a grid which is easy to navigate and display statistics such as pre- and post-program student test scores for students to make educated decisions when choosing a study abroad experience.
For information on how to list your program contact nmelrc-research@byu.edu
NMELRC Pathways Team:
Shmuel Bolozky, Hebrew/Chair
Kamran Talattof, Persian
Maggie Nassif, Arabic
Sylvia W. Onder, Turkish
Kirk Belnap, Arabic
Dan Dewey, Consultant
Madeleine Erhman, Consultant
Useful Tools:
Study Abroad Matrix - view study abroad schools by country, price, curriculum, timeline, etc.
2011 NMELRC Program Building and Maintenance Workshop, Western Consortium Evaluation Workshop