Assessing the Impact of a Strategies-Based Curriculum on Language and Culture Learning Abroad

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the study abroad experience, in general, and the impact of a curriculum intervention, in particular, on students’ intercultural development, second language acquisition, and employment of learning strategies related to language and culture. Cohen and Paige – two of the authors of this article – were the senior authors of a three-volume set of guidebooks, the Maximizing Study Abroad Guides which were intended to enhance overseas students’ language and culture learning through a strategies-based approach. By utilizing a scientifically rigorous set of research procedures, we sought to ascertain the impact and efficacy of the Students’ Guide – one of the volumes in the series – as well as to test a set of hypotheses about the learning outcomes associated with study abroad.