International Exchange I : A Pre-and Post-Analysis of the Participants' Perceptions

A Memorandum of Agreement was mutually signed by Jin-ai University (JU) and California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) in 2005 to seek the promotion of further international understanding between the two respective campuses. Every academic year since the establishment of JU in 2001, small groups of students have studied at the American Language Program of CSUF for eight weeks of intensive English instruction while experiencing home stays with American families. In the summer of 2005 a group of 20 JU students visited CSUF for ten days on a private trip, taking 21 hours of English classes and participating in academic and cultural exchange activities. This short program was the archetype for the establishment of a new course at JU; International Exchange I. Obviously, just by its length, one can surmise that participants in the eight-week program would experience changes in attitudes in several aspects of their characters. However, in the interest of evaluating the new course from its outset, the authors wished to measure whether any changes would take place in such a short program. How did their experiences affect the participants? This paper is a brief investigation of the degree of possible changes in the participants' attitudes in several aspects of their characters.