Blogging for intercultural communicative competence in study abroad programs: All breadth, no depth?

Abstract

Participants in study abroad (SA) programs (sojourners) are often encouraged to blog as a form of reflective writing, yet little is known about this practice. Generally, reflection facilitates sojourners’ engagement in their personal and professional growth. Drawing from two different but complementary frameworks, we analyzed blogs from 51 sojourners in short-term SA volunteer teaching placements to examine the reflection that occurred through their writing. The two frameworks revealed different aspects of blogging practices: types of reflection (Maarof, 2007) were primarily descriptive, but Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Learning (Elola & Oskoz, 2008) examples were more numerous and varied, documenting sojourners’ navigation of culture in SA. Sojourners did not typically use their blogs for dialogic or critical reflection, instead chronicling experiences or representing reflection as completed actions. Although blogging can be useful for reflection in SA, the results from this study suggest that careful scaffolding may be necessary to encourage critical reflection.