Studying Abroad as a Possibility of Development: Exploring the Educational Meaning of Studying Abroad from the Life Stories of Six Taiwan Female Students in Germany

Author: Hsiao-Wen Yu(Department of Comparative Education, National Chi Nan University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 54, No. 3
Date：September 2009
Pages：109-138
DOI：10.3966/2073753X2009095403005

Abstract：

With the trend of globalization, studying abroad has become a universal phenomenon in modern society. From the objective viewpoint, studying abroad is a kind of acquisition of an academic degree. But it doesn’t narrate the whole story of studying abroad, if we take all the challenges, with which students are confronted, and the lessons they learn during their staying abroad, into consideration. This study, in which six Taiwan female students in Germany have participated, uses biography as research method and tries to analyze their life abroad from two aspects: on one hand, studying abroad is viewed as a critical life event. The challenges these students faced with and the strategies they develop are analyzed from the view of developmental psychology; on the other hand, the life in a foreign country is regarded as experiences, in which the contacts with a strange world take place. At last, based on these two viewpoints we will interpret the educational meaning of studying abroad.

Keywords：life story, critical life events, studying abroad, biography

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