Impact of a CLIL Study-abroad Program on Japanese University Students: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

     With the recent rise in global educational needs for Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), a new approach to CLIL-oriented short-term study-abroad programs is emerging. However, to date little research has been done, and, therefore, what kind of experience it is for the participants is not yet understood fully.

     To fill the research gap, this preliminary study attempted to understand what experience it was to participate in a CLIL study-abroad program for the Japanese participants (N= 107; who participated in a six-week Sustainability Program at a university in the US), by investigating the impact (effect and influence) they received from the program including: change in their awareness/attitudes towards global citizenship, pro-environmental (sustainability) behaviors, English language progress and the amount of use, as well as its influence on their academic and career orientation. Our research questions were: 1) What experience was it for the students to participate in the program? and 2) How do the participants' global citizenship awareness and sustainability behaviors, English proficiency and use, attitudes towards academic content learning in L2, and career path orientation develop over the six-week program?  Both quantitative date (a questionnaire of 60 items) and qualitative data (semi-structured interviews) were integrated. The results from this mixed-methods approach will be discussed at the presentation together with suggestions for improvements in the potential roles of the program in the tertiary-education curriculum.

     This is an on-going four-year collaborative research project funded with Grant-in-Aid by the Ministry of Education, Japan, # 18K00761.