Development Of ICIC In The Study-abroad Program For Elementary School Students

Since the ancient times, China has the tradition of learning during a tour. The ancient people regarded a learning tour as an important approach to widen one’s horizon, to enrich knowledge and to improve capacity. In China, SAP(Study-Abroad Programs) has become a more and more popular tourism activity, and the number of students participating SAP grew by 35% between 2008 and 2012. In a rapidly globalizing world, intercultural interaction competence(ICIC) become important assets. It is widely recognized that study-abroad programs(SAP) for elementary school students are emerging as successful routes to effective ICIC in many parts of the world. However, much of the research on the training of SAP is focused on language training and neglects the development of intercultural awareness and ICIC. In China, despite the fact that SAP have existed for almost 20 years, very little research has been done on how these study-abroad programs function or how effective they are in developing elementary school students’ ICIC. There is reason to believe that current research on other study-abroad programs such as SAP for adults and college students who will live and work in the host country for a long term may not be completely applicable to elementary school students because of the distinct differences in age, experience, knowledge, attitudes and skills and can not achieve the educational purpose of teachers and parents.This study was designed as an ethnographic case study to explore the development of ICIC in study-abroad programs for elementary school students. The main participants in the study were pupils in an elementary school and an office of foreign affairs in our city. The ethnographic data were collected for four sessions of the study-abroad programs, during pre-training period, study-abroad period and post-returning period through participant observation; fieldnotes from the observation; interviews and conversations with students, teachers, the principal, and parents; and literacy-artifact collection and analysis.Based on the theories of intercultural interaction competence, according to the experience accumulated by some study-abroad projects, this research aims to explore the development of intercultural interaction competence in the design of training for SAP. Henceforth, based on deep experiential learning and students’ experience, taking advantage of the scenes of study-abroad, the training is taking the improvement of international awareness and cultural sensitivity as the goal. The course and activities aim to cultivate cultural contrast and intercultural communication competence and make children better broaden their international perspectives, enrich life experiences, enhance their initiative, and cultivate personality as well as internationalized and diversified cultural ideas and thinking habits.This research has the potential to benefit the educational system in creating successful study-abroad programs for elementary school students. A deeper understanding of development of ICIC in SAP for elementary school students will be central to assisting these students, as tomorrow’s global citizens, developing the highest possible degree of cultural awareness, academic achievement, and intercultural interaction competence. Furthermore, this thesis also enriches the studies of intercultural interaction by exploring this specific field of intercultural interaction activities.