ABSTRACT
In the last 30 years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of young people who are gaining some form of education outside their country of citizenship. By 2025, more than seven million tertiary-level students are expected to be educated transnationally, and a record number of secondary-level students are also going abroad for part of their education (American Council of Education 2006; Atlas of Student Mobility n.d.; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 2009). Education abroad options have also become more diverse (e.g. study abroad, internships, work placements, field research, service learning,1 volunteering, directed travel linked to learning goals) and motivated by a wider range of goals (e.g. second language (L2) learning, exposure to other cultures, professional enhancement, disciplinary learning). When education abroad involves formal L2 learning and immersion in the native speech
community, it is widely believed to offer students the best opportunity to enhance their intercultural sensitivity and proficiency in the host language. Increasingly, however, education abroad researchers are discovering that the relationship between language proficiency, intercultural communicative competence (Deardorff 2006; Chapters 5 and 16, this volume), and intercultural contact is far from straightforward. The complexity and variability of the sojourn experience, in part due to individual differences in sojourners, can lead to strikingly different outcomes. Further, with more diversity in programmes, questions are being raised about the best ways to enhance the language and (inter)cultural development of L2 sojourners and extend their learning once they return home. The field of education abroad is further complicated by the use of different terminology in
different parts of the world. Several terms may represent the same concept and, in some cases, a single term may have multiple meanings. To reduce semantic ambiguity and facilitate comparisons of programmes and research findings, the Forum on Education Abroad2 (2011) has published a glossary for education abroad professionals within and outside the US who work with American students abroad. Coleman (1997, 2007, 2009), Europa, the European Commission of Education, Training and Youth (European Commission 2010)3 and MurphyLejeune (2008) offer insight into the education abroad (e.g. academic mobility) nomenclature that is prevalent in European contexts.
