AFS Educational Results Study
…for AFS & Friends
The groundwork for the AFS Educational Results Study was laid in 1987 through a project titled the AFS Impact Study, which focused on recently returned AFS students. The AFS returnees in this study demonstrated greater foreign language acquisition and appreciation of other cultures than peers who did not participate in an exchange program,
THE AFS EDUCATIONAL RESULTS STUDY: METHODOLOGY AND PARTICIPANTS As a follow-up to the above findings, in 2002-2004 Dr. Mitchell Hammer, with the support of AFS, designed and conducted a research study titled, The Assessment of the Impact of the AFS Study Abroad Experience, or as it is commonly referred to, the AFS Educational Results Study. A total of 2100 students from nine countries with AFS programs participated in the AFS Educational Results Study. Of these students, 1500 were AFS participants who lived Pre-, post- and post-post-test results for attitudes of cultural “Acceptance” on the DMIS (AFS participants and the control group) with a host family and studied in another country for 10 months and 600 were friends of the AFS participants who did not have a secondary school study abroad experience. These friends were used as the control group. The study was based on a comprehensive model for measuring one’s intercultural sensitivity, the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), created by Dr. Milton Bennett. A person’s level of intercultural sensitivity, as it relates to the DMIS, can be evaluated through the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessment tool, designed by Dr. Milton Bennett and Dr. Mitchell Hammer. This tool has been cross-culturally validated for assessing intercultural competence. In terms of the methodology of the study, a rigorous pre-test, post-test, and post-post test, control group design was used to scientifically assess the impact of the AFS study abroad experience on AFS students. This design allowed us to compare AFS students to peers who did not participate in a secondary school study abroad program. Further, the study design enabled us to analyze the impact of the AFS experience over time (post test to post-post test measures). Data was gathered using three different groups of respondents: (1) AFS students and control group members (self report measures); (2) questionnaires completed by the AFS students’ own families; (3) surveys completed by the AFS students’ host families. In addition, some AFS students participated in an electronic journal writing activity, answering questions intermittently throughout their study abroad.
1 ©AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. 2011
WHAT AFS LEARNED The study demonstrated that students participating in AFS exchanges of 10 months made significant improvements in the following areas: Significant improvement in foreign language: AFS host families assessed their students’ language ability at the beginning of the year and again prior to the student’s return home. While just over 30% of the sojourners began with a “basic” level, by the end of the year 35% were at “advanced fluency” and 12% scored even higher, placing at the bilingual level.
The DMIS is frequently taught to AFS volunteers and staff as part of their ICL training (shown here in Spanish)
More intercultural friendships: Before participating in the AFS program, students reported that approximately 10% of their friends came from other cultures. Peers who did not go abroad had almost as many intercultural friendships. However, eight (8) months after the AFS students returned home, they reported that 23% of their current friends in the home country came from other cultures. Peers who did not go abroad were still at about 9%. Less “polarization” of cultural differences: It is common for secondary school students to divide the world into generally “good” and “bad;” or “us” and “them”. The AFS experience was shown to help students overcome this polarization. Greater knowledge of another culture: After their participation in the year program, AFS students showed significant increases both in their own ratings of their knowledge of the host culture and in the host parents’ ratings of the students’ knowledge. Peers who did not go abroad showed no increase in knowledge about any other culture. Lower anxiety in dealing with other cultures: Pre-program, most AFS participants were nervous about their upcoming encounter with another culture and peers who did not go abroad were also not very at ease around people from other cultures. However, during and after participating in the AFS program, AFS sojourners became much more comfortable around other cultures, and thus better able to form relationships across cultures, while peers showed no significant change.
AFS alumni differ from peers in these ways:
INCREASED intercultural competence fluency in MORE languages MORE intercultural friendships LESS polarization of cultural differences MORE knowledge of other cultures LOWER levels of intercultural anxiety MORE intercultural contact networks HIGHER intercultural sensitivity and development scores on the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
For the full report of the AFS Educational Results Study visit: icl.afs.org/research
2 ©AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. 2011