As the world becomes a global village, there is an increased emphasis on studying abroad rather than at home, with an aim of getting the competitive advantage needed in the current world. Many parents usually take their children to schools in other countries, and also some institutions organize for exchange programs that lead to several children leaving their home countries for abroad (Sieloff, 2008). In other cases, grown ups and working class people do take scholarships or pay for their studies abroad. In all these cases, the students always find themselves at an intercultural situation whereby they start living and studying at different cultures. When students leave their home countries for other countries, they hardly think of the impacts that cultural differences can have on their lives. In any case, every student thinks about the kind of education he will be able to achieve in the other country. Cultural differences refer to individual beliefs about issues such as food, dress code, language, social interactions, modesty, taboo and body language. Studying abroad, therefore, brings about several cultural conflicts among students who find themselves studying and living in a different culture. It is better to study at home rather than study abroad because of the difficulties a student encounters while living and studying abroad.
Argument 1, opposition and rebuttal
The main difficulty that students encounter when studying abroad is the language differences (Pellegrino, 1998). Once a student goes to another country, there is a need for him/ her to learn the foreign language as a second language to facilitate intercultural communication. Learning a second/ foreign language is quite difficult considering that different languages consist of different sounds, alphabets and grammar. This is why learning of a second language becomes extremely difficult for most people, yet they are required to do so in order to interact with other people comfortably. It is very tasking for a student to learn various vocabularies in a foreign language. The student may feel out of place if he learns the language but remains with an accent that is different from his/ her foreign peers, teachers and the community. Some body-language gestures may worsen the situation since different people have different meanings for certain gestures (DuFon, 2006). A student may have a hard time understanding the various gestures than could be termed as offensive in the foreign culture.
When a student uses one of the offensive gestures and then he realizes it, he becomes quite embarrassed, making it hard for him to communicate with other people. These difficulties that can be linked to foreign language, body language and gestures may lead to inefficiency in learning among such students. When a student is bombarded with these changes in languages, it becomes too hectic for him to carry out his studies effectively. In school, the student may have interest in joining certain sporting activities, academic clubs and unions, but, unfortunately he may become fearful of interacting with foreigners due to the language barriers. He may hate the accent since most people with an accent can be perceived to be less sophisticated than others, and also, he may find it difficult to understand when the foreigners speak at a fast pace. He may not be able to ask the colleagues or teachers to repeat a statement because it will be very embarrassing. This can greatly lower his opportunities of enjoying the educational, social and health benefits associated with these activities.
Some people may argue that learning a foreign language does not have to be difficult since there are schools that teach foreign languages in all countries. These schools consist of teachers who usually guide the students through various language- issues. Also, there are several self- teaching methods that a student can use to enhance his foreign language competence. A student may use video tapes, vocabulary books and audio cassettes that can easily tutor them about languages and body languages.
For such an argument, it is vital to understand that going for language classes and using self- teaching methods are also a part of the problem for the student. The classes that teach foreign languages are usually quite expensive, and most of these students do not usually budget for these extra costs when they leave their home countries (Opper, 1990). This can put a financial strain on the student’s budget leading to financial crisis. Also, these classes cannot teach the student all the vocabularies and body language gestures that are used in the foreign country. No matter how willing the students are willing to learn, they are constantly drawn back due to their embarrassing accents and gestures, and this can lead to low self esteem. Back at home; such a student would not spend so much time and effort trying to learn the second language. He would spend all the time learning in the same way like the other students while living in a comfortable environment.
Argument 2, opposition and rebuttal
The other difficulty that students encounter in the foreign countries is the issues concerned with social-interaction values and beliefs between different cultures. When students go to other countries, they usually discover that there are significant differences in beliefs and values that may lead to poor grades in school and degraded interpersonal skills (Sieloff, 2008). A student may find himself confused on how to dress to class, which food to eat and age and gender roles to follow. Some cultures usually make students to avoid asking questions to their seniors or saying that they don’t understand something in class. Teachers also have different ways of dealing with misbehavior in class, and this may cause problems between teachers and students from different cultural backgrounds. Cultures usually come from deep sets of norms, beliefs, assumptions and values such that changing them in order to suit in a certain region can prove to be cumbersome for any person. A student may feel frustrated when he or she realizes that foreigners do not recognize or share his or her deep help values. A student usually leaves his home country believing and hoping that the multicultural practices in the other country recognize his highly-held beliefs and values. Unfortunately this is not the case and he finds himself confused on which values to drop or take up. This may lead to a conflict of interpersonal interactions when the student goes back to his home country and continues with the foreign values and beliefs (Trooboff, 2007).
Some people may argue that students can deal with this issue by spending more time interacting with other foreign students so that they can understand about the expectations of a particular culture. This can be done by observing people’s behavior in various situations such that a student may find certain values and beliefs that are worth emulating.
A student may take time to understand different cultures, but the outcome can even be even more devastating. The student may become obsessed with emulating the social interactions portrayed by the foreigners to the extent that he or she forgets about his or her main purpose in the country. Also, he may try picking or emulating some beliefs and values but end up doing harm to himself. This can lead to destructive social behavior such as drug abuse or skimpy dressing, causing negative alienation that would not be the case if the student studied in his or her home country (Sieloff, 2008).
Conclusion
It is better to study at home rather than study abroad because of the difficulties a student encounters while living and studying abroad. At home, some people have been going to foreign countries in search of green pastures but end up having painful experiences and difficulties to deal with new cultures. The issues discussed in the paper above shows to what extent the students suffer while they are away from their home countries. These cultural differences can impact negatively on the students’ interpersonal skills, school grades and social interactions. Instead of making students to suffer in foreign countries, it would be better to make them study at their home countries. For students to learn effectively they need to study in comfortable environments and this can only be found in the student’s background. Also, to avoid lowering the self esteem for the students, it would be vital for parents, students, institutions and governments to emphasize on studying at home rather than abroad. The challenges that students who study abroad usually deter personal development and academic development since the students suffer from low self esteem.
References
DuFon, M. & Churchill,E. (eds) (2006). Language learners in study abroad contexts. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Opper, S., Teichler, U. & Carlson, J. (1990) Impacts of study abroad programmes on students and graduates. London : Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Pellegrino, V. A. (1998). Student Perspectives on Language Learning in a Study Abroad Context.http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&q=frontiers+pellegrino+&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0)
Sieloff Magnan, S. Back, M. (2008) Social Interaction and Linguistic Gain During Study Abroad, Foreign Language Annals. 40/1, pp. 43 – 61. (available online/library: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121559446/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Trooboff, S., Van, M. & Rayman, J. (2007-2008) ‘Employer attitudes towards study abroad’
http://www.frontiersjournal.com/documents/TrooboffVandebergRaymonFRONTIERSJOURNALXVWinter2007-08-pdf.pdf)
