Conceptualizations, images, and evaluations of culture in study abroad students

This article focuses on the cultural dimension of sojourners’ learning during study abroad periods. By examining the cases of two Canadian learners of German who studied abroad in Germany for 1 year, we aim to amend discussions in existing research on what kind of cultural learning may take place during study abroad and how cultural learning may be conceptualized and operationalized. Our results suggest that assuming that study abroad leads to a heightened intercultural sensitivity, to more cultural knowledge, and to an increased intercultural competence, is problematic with respect to the conceptual underpinnings of “cultural learning.” The notions of culture that underlie much of what participants consider “cultural learning and experience” often remain essentialist. We therefore propose to replace the interculturality paradigm by a transculturality paradigm as it allows us to capture the complexities of study abroad and cultural learning more accurately.