The Effect of the Short-term Study Abroad Program Verified by Developing Measurement Scales for Intercultural Communicative Competence (A Pilot Study at Nagasaki University)

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effects of the short-term study abroad program on promoting intercultural communicative competence (hereafter ICC). Students’ development of ICC was analyzed by pre and post-departure surveys, which have been produced by authors in this study. Twenty-five undergraduate students at Nagasaki University participated in this study. A factor analysis was performed, and then five factor items were extracted out of 48 questions. Through the analysis of variance, significant differences appeared in four factors out of five between the results of pre and post-departure surveys, which suggests that the short-term study abroad supported by the university would be effective to promote some of students’ ICC.