…for AFS & Friends
Long-Term Impact Study
20+
years after their experience abroad, AFS
program alumni are more likely to be fluent in more languages, have higher education levels and be more comfortable in different cultural settings, both professional and personal, than their peers who did not have a secondary school intercultural sojourn experience. In 2007-2008, AFS conducted a study involving some 2,000 AFS alumni from 15 countries plus around 500 peers that this group nominated to be a control group for comparison. The study used biographical data and the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a tool designed by Dr. Milton Bennett and Dr. Mitchell Hammer, which is based on the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) created by Dr. Bennett.
Notable AFS Alumni
Catherine Coleman, NASA Astronaut
Jan Eliasson, Deputy SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations
Motohide Yoshikawa, Permanent Representative of Japan, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT AFS ALUMNI MORE LANGUAGE FLUENCY Language fluency is one of the strongest long-term impacts of the AFS program. AFS alumni are 20% more likely to speak and use at least one more foreign language than their peers. 77% of all AFS alumni of all program durations (and over 85% of all of our year-long program returnees) reported that they could fluently speak at least one foreign language, in addition to their native language. Over 30% could speak at least two other languages.
GREATER INTERCULTURAL SENSITIVITY AFS alumni have significantly higher levels of intercultural sensitivity on the widely-accepted Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) than their peers1. In the earlier stages of the DMIS (noted here as DDR), people either assume that cultural differences do not exist (D) or they are aware of cultural differences, but often feel threatened or intimidated by them (DR) . 1
See the Developmental Model for Intercultural Sensitivity …for AFSers for more information on this model.
1 ©AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. 2013
AFS alumni, however, are more likely to recognize cultural differences yet see commonalities across these: “I realized that, although we have different skin color, and different religious and political beliefs, across all these differences we are all still human beings with very similar feelings and interests, and just by chance we are born in this or that culture and family.”
LIFE-LONG INTERCULTURAL LEARNING: CAREERS, NETWORKS & MORE Participation in AFS exchanges was found to inspire life-long intercultural learning that includes multicultural friendships, additional study-abroad experiences, choosing a career involving work with other cultures, living abroad, volunteering for international organizations, hosting people from other cultures, and cross-cultural marriages.
AFS returnees are significantly more likely than their peers to have a career or employment that involves working extensively with other cultures.
33% of AFS alumni also studied abroad at the university level (compared with 22% of their nominated peers).
Almost twice as many returnees as their peers have lived abroad for at least one year after their AFS sojourn due to their own or their spouse’s work or professional activity.
AFS returnees include more people from other cultures among their friends and in their professional networks than do their peers.
HIGHER EDUCATION LEVELS AFS alumni in general attained a significantly higher level of education than their peers from secondary school. Education level achieved is often closely related to university study abroad; nevertheless, education level was a significant factor differentiating AFS alumni from their secondary school peers and this factor contributed to the overall impact of intercultural development.
WELL-EDUCATED INTERCULTURAL TRAVELERS There is no specific combination of factors that guarantees that a person achieve high levels of intercultural sensitivity (as measured by developmental scores on the IDI). However, there are factors that, together, predict the likelihood that someone will be more interculturally sensitive. These include: Education level attained, parents’ attitudes toward studying abroad, travel abroad experience as a child, participation in universitylevel study abroad experience, and living abroad on a work assignment or as an accompanying spouse.
2 ©AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. 2013
The more closely one resembles this model of a “well-educated intercultural traveler,” the more likely one is to have higher levels of intercultural sensitivity. The Long-Term Impact Study shows that participation in the AFS program is highly correlated with this combination of factors.
CONCLUSION The Long-Term Impact Study demonstrated that, after 20-25 years, AFS alumni are significantly different than their peers in a several important aspects. AFS alumni are more likely to speak at least one other language fluently, live or spend significant time abroad, seek and be involved in jobs that involve contact with other cultures, and have friends from a diversity of backgrounds. They are also more likely to encourage their children to meet people from other cultures and to study abroad, indicating that this type of interaction across cultures is a core part of what they value. Some are among our current host families and some could be parents of the next generation of AFS exchange students!
Many years after their experience, AFS alumni differ from their peers with:
Fluency in a greater number of languages. Higher levels of education. Greater intercultural sensitivity (as determined by the Intercultural Development Inventory). Careers in which they work extensively with people from other cultures. More likely to study or live abroad again. More comfort around cultural differences including work and personal relationships.
For more information AFS Long-Term Impact Study Report (2008) Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman (2003). The Intercultural Development Inventory: A Measure of Intercultural Sensitivity. Bennett, M. (1993). Towards Ethnorelativism: A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity.
3 ©AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. 2013