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West Chester University West Chester University Digital Commons @ West Chester University Digital Commons @ West Chester University West Chester University Doctoral Projects Masters Theses and Doctoral Projects Spring 2020 Development of Intercultural Competence and Cultural Empathy in Development of Intercultural Competence and Cultural Empathy in High School Students Participating in a Short-Term Study Abroad High School Students Participating in a Short-Term Study Abroad Exchange Exchange Jeffrey Mapes jmapes08@gmail.com Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/all_doctoral Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons , and the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Mapes, Jeffrey, "Development of Intercultural Competence and Cultural Empathy in High School Students Participating in a Short-Term Study Abroad Exchange" (2020). West Chester University Doctoral Projects . 77. https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/all_doctoral/77 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Masters Theses and Doctoral Projects at Digital Commons @ West Chester University. It has been accepted for inclusion in West Chester University Doctoral Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ West Chester University. For more information, please contact wcressler@wcupa.edu .

Development of Intercultural Competence and Cultural Empathy in High School Students Participating in a Short-Term Study Abroad Exchange A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the College of Education and Social Work West Chester University West Chester, Pennsylvania In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education By Jeffrey Mapes May 2020

Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my family. My wife, Lori, has been incredibly supportive throughout this entire process. Despite the amount of time that I had to dedicate to this endeavor, Lori found ways to make life easy for me, including by planning a perfect wedding while I completed my research and prepared to write this dissertation. In the moments where I questioned my ability to complete this endeavor, Lori always reassured me and gave me the confidence that I needed. I look forward to the time I get to spend with her now that this process is all done. My dad, Bruce, played a major role in this journey, even before it started. I could not have asked for a better father who always knew how to push me, but also how to console and inspire me when I needed it. From the ski slopes to this dissertation, he has always been my biggest fan. I would not be where I am today without my brother, Rob. Being nine years younger than Rob, I have always looked to him as my role model. He’s always been the person that can teach me what I need to know. The Holy Cross guys, Brendan, Denny, Fos, Luke, Dugan, Fran, and Toby, have been tremendous sources of support since we met 15 years ago, and have also inspired me through their accomplishments. Lastly, and certainly not least, my mom, Mary Helen, and my stepmother, Karen, have been looking down on me and guiding me throughout this entire process. I miss them dearly, but I know that their love still supports me today.

Acknowledgements This dissertation was truly a team-effort. My advisor, Heather Schugar, has been an incredible support in this process. When needed, she helped me learn how to better present my ideas. In moments of doubt, she reassured me of the work I was doing. My other committee members, Dr. Karen Dickinson and Dr. Patty Bell have helped me complete my research with incredible wisdom and patience. Lisa DiMaio and Lisa Montgomery, my committee cohort members, share a large portion of my accomplishment. Aside from providing beautiful flowers for my wedding, Lisa D. has been a joy to work with as her positivity and outgoing nature made those long Monday nights a lot of fun. Lisa Montgomery has watched over me from the very beginning of the cohort. A strong mentor, Lisa has more than a few times selflessly dropped her own tasks to help me when I needed it. My other cohort members- Marcie, Maria, Jenn, Amy, Jane, and Mike- I cannot imagine a better group with whom I could have completed this program. Our conversations and debates helped me grow in my perspective as an educator and as a person. You consistently challenged me to see the world from new perspectives. This research could not have been completed without the Danish Exchange Program at my school. Jens Christensen and Jakob Mølgaard helped to build this program at their school in Denmark and have become two invaluable friends in the process. Amy McGregor, Meghan Daney, and Dom Morabito provided great mentorship in allowing us to model our program off of the one that they run at their school. Despite the skepticism surrounding a program which removed students from their classrooms in the middle of the school year, Dr. Linda MacNeal, Dr. Lawrence Mussoline, Jane Bertone, and Colleen Craney patiently helped craft a policy that allowed this exchange to happen. My sidekicks, Megan Zahuranec and

Ellen Resnek have been the best team to work with as we continue to grow this program. Lastly, the students involved in the five years of this program have provided me with the greatest opportunity of my teaching career through their enthusiasm in developing their intercultural competence.

Abstract A major effect of globalization is the decreasing importance of national borders in favor of international economic cooperation. However, many of the issues of the imperialist era of the 16 th to the 20 th centuries still linger including poverty and marginalized populations of people. A space in schools exists for programs that have an ability to engage students in critical thought through cultural empathy and also prepare students for the modern, interconnected world. When education policymakers attend too much to standardized testing, school curricula do not tend to have options for such critical and empathic education. Through opportunities such as Short-Term Study Abroad (STSA) programs, educators can help to develop intercultural competence among participants. In this dissertation, I investigated the relationship between participation in a 10-day secondary school STSA exchange program to Denmark, and student intercultural competence development. Using Mezirow’s (1997) Transformative Learning Theory as a theoretical framework, I utilized a mixed methods approach in order to measure changes in participants’ intercultural competence before and after participation the exchange. Through this study, I found that high school who participated in a carefully-structured secondary school STSA exchange program experienced significant development in their intercultural competence. Students who took part in this program had opportunities to process cultural differences in meaningful ways and engaged in critical thought through interventions such as journal reflections and group interviews. This dissertation offers several suggestions for implementing successful STSA programs at the high school level.

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